The 2021 Copa América was the 47th edition of the Copa América, the international men's football championship organised by South America's football ruling body CONMEBOL. The tournament took place in Brazil from 13 June to 10 July 2021. It was originally scheduled to take place from 12 June to 12 July 2020 in Argentina and Colombia as the 2020 Copa América. On 17 March 2020, CONMEBOL announced that due to the COVID-19 pandemic in South America, the tournament had been postponed for a year, in conjunction with UEFA's decision to also postpone UEFA Euro 2020 to 2021. This was the first time since 1991 where no guest nation took part in the tournament and the most recent Copa América hosted in South America.
On 20 May 2021, Colombia was removed as co-host amid ongoing protests against President Iván Duque Márquez, and Argentina was then removed on 30 May due to COVID-19 issues. The following day CONMEBOL confirmed Brazil as the new host of the tournament.
Hosts Brazil were the title holders, having won their ninth title in 2019, which they also hosted. Argentina won their record-tying fifteenth title after defeating Brazil 1–0 in the final, marking the first time Brazil failed to win the competition on home soil. Argentina secured a first senior trophy since the 1993 edition of the same tournament, also equalling Uruguay's overall record of Copa América titles. The title qualified Argentina to play the CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions in 2022 against Italy, winners of the UEFA Euro 2020. Argentina's Lionel Messi and Brazil's Neymar were joint winners of the Best Player Award.
Background In March 2017, CONMEBOL reportedly proposed that the Copa América take place in 2020 as part of a calendar change. Following the 2019 edition in Brazil, the quadrennial tournament would move back from odd to even years starting in 2020, with the following edition taking place in United States in 2024, having previously held the one-off Copa América Centenario in 2016, which celebrated the centenary of CONMEBOL and the Copa América. This would move the tournament in line with the UEFA European Championship, which is also held in even years with a 2020 edition taking place. On 18 September 2018, plans for a calendar change were confirmed by CONMEBOL president Alejandro Domínguez after submitting an official request to FIFA.
On 26 October 2018 at the FIFA Council meeting in Kigali, Rwanda, the request was approved for the Copa América to take place in even years, starting with the 2020 edition. The tournament was originally scheduled to take place between 12 June and 12 July 2020, the same dates as UEFA Euro 2020.
On 13 March 2019, CONMEBOL announced Argentina and Colombia as co-hosts of the 2020 event after the United States bid was rejected. It was officially announced the same day when CONMEBOL approved of the joint hosting. It was officially awarded on 9 April 2019 at the CONMEBOL Congress in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
On 20 May 2021, due to security concerns amid protests against the government of President Iván Duque Márquez, Colombia was dropped as co-host of the tournament. On 30 May 2021, Argentina later dropped as co-host of the tournament due to COVID-19 travel restriction.
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic in South America began impacting football. FIFA announced that the first two rounds of the South American qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup, due to take place in March, were postponed, while CONMEBOL temporarily suspended the Copa Libertadores. On 17 March 2020, CONMEBOL announced that the Copa América would be postponed to the following year, taking place from 11 June to 11 July 2021, in conjunction with UEFA and IOC decision to also postpone UEFA Euro 2020 and 2020 Summer Olympics to 2021, in order to protect the health and safety of the teams, media, visitors and host cities. On the following day, the Bureau of the FIFA Council approved the date change in the FIFA International Match Calendar. As a result, the expanded FIFA Club World Cup, which was due to take place in June and July 2020, was rescheduled to 2021.
On 22 February 2021, two invited guest teams Australia and Qatar pulled out of tournament, due to their commitments for the second round of 2022 FIFA World Cup Asian qualification.
On 20 May 2021, CONMEBOL announced that Colombia would be withdrawn as host due to protests. Two days later, Argentina went under a nine-day lockdown due to soaring COVID-19 cases, which included the suspension of all domestic football. On 30 May 2021, CONMEBOL announced that due to the current circumstances in the country, Copa América would be pulled from Argentina, and that they were looking at bids from other countries to host the tournament. This reportedly included a bid from the United States, after that bid was initially rejected. It was reported that the Argentine government had made increasing demands for biosecurity protocols that CONMEBOL found unreasonable. On 31 May Brazil was confirmed as the new host.
All matches in the tournament were held behind closed doors, except the final, during which 10% of Maracanã Stadium's capacity was allowed for guests with a negative COVID-19 test before entering. All delegations, each limited to 65 members, were vaccinated, as were the match officials.
Venues On 1 June 2021, the Brazilian government and Brazilian Football Confederation announced the cities of Brasília, Goiânia, Cuiabá and Rio de Janeiro as the host venues of the competition, with the Maracanã, Nacional Mané Garrincha, Pantanal and the Olímpico Pedro Ludovico stadiums used for matches. On 2 June, the CBF decided to use the Estádio Olímpico Nilton Santos as the second stadium in Rio de Janeiro. The government also allocated resources in the federal budget to provide the necessary support for the CONMEBOL's tournament logistics and security. The Estádio Nacional Mané Garrincha hosted the opening match on 13 June, and the final was held at the Estadio do Maracanã on 10 July.
Rio de JaneiroEstádio do MaracanãEstádio Olímpico Nilton SantosCapacity: 78,838Capacity: 46,931 BrasíliaCuiabá Goiânia Estádio Nacional Mané GarrinchaArena Pantanal Estádio Olímpico Pedro Ludovico Capacity: 72,788Capacity: 44,000 Capacity: 13,500
Original venues On 20 November 2019, CONMEBOL published a document confirming eight venues, Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes in Córdoba, Estadio Malvinas Argentinas in Mendoza, Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires and Estadio Ciudad de La Plata in La Plata for Argentina and Estadio Olímpico Pascual Guerrero in Cali, Estadio Atanasio Girardot in Medellín, Estadio Metropolitano Roberto Meléndez in Barranquilla and Estadio Nemesio Camacho El Campín in Bogotá for Colombia. Moreover, Estadio San Juan del Bicentenario in San Juan (Argentina) and Estadio Hernán Ramírez Villegas in Pereira (Colombia) were also nominated but not confirmed, being finally dismissed.
On 3 December 2019, prior to the draw, it was known that Estadio Único in Santiago del Estero was included as one of the Argentine venues.
On 15 March 2021, the Estadio Ciudad de La Plata in La Plata venue was ruled out as a result of the schedule shortening.
Colombia would have hosted the North Zone group, while Argentina would have hosted the South Zone group. Each country would also have hosted two quarter-finals and one semi-final. The third place match and final would have been played in Colombia.
Teams All ten CONMEBOL national teams participated in the competition, divided into two geographical zones for the group stage.
In June 2019, the CONMEBOL Council officially approved the participation of Australia and Qatar as the two invited teams, who were the previous two winners of the AFC Asian Cup. Australia would have made their debut appearance in the Copa América, while Qatar would be making their second appearance, having participated in the previous edition. However, on 23 February 2021, Football Australia and the Qatar Football Association announced their withdrawal from the tournament, due to the postponement of the remainder of the AFC second round of 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification to June 2021. Following the withdrawals, a CONMEBOL spokesperson said that there was a calendar issue that stopped Australia and Qatar, that he had already seen interest from other national teams to play as guests in their place and that he would like to have 12 teams. The spokesperson added that if no replacements were found, the tournament would be played with 10 teams (for the first time since 1991).
CONMEBOL North Zone (title holders and hosts)
CONMEBOL South Zone
Squads
Each team had to submit a list of up to 28 players (expanded from 23), including at least three goalkeepers.
Draw The team allocations of the CONMEBOL members, divided into North Zone and South Zone, were announced on 9 April 2019. The group stage draw was held on 3 December 2019, 19:30 COT (UTC−5), in Cartagena. Original co-hosts Argentina and Colombia were automatically allocated to positions A1 and B1, respectively. After the draw, the zones for the two invited nations and the positions of teams within the groups were as follows:
+ Group A(South Zone) Team A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 + Group B(North Zone) Team B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6
+Group stage scheduleMatchdayDatesGroup A matchesGroup B matchesMatchday 113–14 June 2021A1 v A5, A2 v A4, A6 v A3B1 v B5, B2 v B4, B6 v B3Matchday 217–18 June 2021A1 v A4, A6 v A2, A5 v A3B1 v B4, B6 v B2, B5 v B3Matchday 320–21 June 2021A1 v A6, A2 v A3, A4 v A5B1 v B6, B2 v B3, B4 v B5Matchday 423–24 June 2021A2 v A1, A3 v A4, A5 v A6B2 v B1, B3 v B4, B5 v B6Matchday 527–28 June 2021A3 v A1, A5 v A2, A4 v A6B3 v B1, B5 v B2, B4 v B6
On 2 June 2021, Argentina and Brazil were allocated to positions A1 and B1, respectively, in the competition calendar update.
Match officials On 21 April 2021, CONMEBOL announced a total of 14 referees, 22 assistant referees, 16 video assistant referees (VAR), and 10 support referees appointed for the tournament. This edition featured the participation of a Spanish refereeing team as part of the memorandum of understanding signed by CONMEBOL and UEFA in February 2020, which included a referee exchange programme.
On 5 June 2021, Uruguayan video assistant referees Leodán González and Daniel Fedorczuk were replaced by Andrés Cunha, also from Uruguay. In addition, Juan Soto from Venezuela and Jhon Alexander León from Colombia replaced the video assistant referee Nicolás Gallo and the assistant referee Miguel Roldán respectively, both from Colombia. Nicolás Gallo and Miguel Roldán had previously been suspended indefinitely as a result of their performance in the match between Uruguay and Paraguay valid for the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers.
Later, Leodán González and Daniel Fedorczuk were summoned again to join the Uruguayan referee team.
AssociationRefereesAssistant refereesVideo assistant refereesSupport refereesSupport assistant refereesNéstor PitanaPatricio LoustauEzequiel BrailovskyGabriel ChadeMauro ViglianoFacundo TelloCristian NavarroGery VargasJosé AnteloEdwar SaavedraAriel GuizadaWilton SampaioRaphael ClausDanilo ManisBruno PiresWagner RewayRafael TraciRafael AlvesRoberto TobarChristian SchiemannClaudio RíosJulio BascuñánCristián GarayÁngelo HermosillaWilmar RoldánAndrés RojasAlexander GuzmánJhon Alexander LeónJhon OspinaSebastián VelaGuillermo GuerreroChristian LescanoByron RomeroAugusto AragónEber AquinoEduardo CardozoMilciades SaldívarDerlis LópezJuan Gabriel BenítezJosé CuevasVíctor Hugo CarrilloJonny BossioRaúl López CruzDiego HaroKevin OrtegaJesús Gil ManzanoDiego Barbero SevillaÁngel Nevado RodríguezRicardo de Burgos BengoetxeaJosé Luis Munuera MonteroEsteban OstojichLeodán GonzálezCarlos BarreiroMartín SoppiAndrés CunhaDaniel FedorczukAndrés MatonteAlexis HerreraCarlos LópezJorge UrregoJesús ValenzuelaJuan SotoAlberto Ponte
Group stage