Copa America will close with losses of $15 million

(ATR) The Copa America still has no champion, but one thing is certain: it will close with losses of $15 million.

The final of the oldest soccer tournament in the world will be played this Saturday at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The host country has already qualified for the final, and Argentina and Colombia will play the second semifinal on Tuesday.

The tournament, which was originally to be co-hosted by Colombia and Argentina and then only in Argentina, had to look for an emergency venue when the Argentine government decided not to organize it in the midst of a resurgence of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Brazil came to the rescue of the South American Football Confederation (Conmebol), but the urgency with which the event had to be organized and the multiple restrictions imposed by the pandemic in Latin America's leading economy meant that the tournament generated losses.

"The figures are not yet available, they may change, but we estimate that the losses of this Copa America will be $15 million," Monserrat Jimenez, Conmebol's legal director, told the specialized website Big Data Sports.

"We never thought that the Copa America would not be held. Alejandro (Dominguez, president of CONMEBOL) was always very clear and told us: 'The Copa America is happening'. Faced with each new scenario, we prepared five different alternatives to resolve a very complex situation. South American soccer is not like European football, but we never thought that the Copa América was not going to happen," added Jiménez.

"It would have been very simple for us to issue a statement and say 'Argentina and Colombia cancel the Copa America, we're all going on vacation and we'll see you again in July with the Copa Libertadores.' We didn't. When I see that they say we went ahead because of the money, holding the Copa America under these conditions led to huge economic losses."

Conmebol's legal director accused the governments of Argentina and Colombia of not having told the truth when it came to divesting themselves of the responsibility of organizing the tournament.

"Argentina and Colombia did not suspend the Copa America because of Covid, but because of political and social issues. We do not handle ourselves in Conmebol because of politics, so we went ahead."

Jiménez, a person closely trusted by Domínguez, highlighted the harmony between the president of Conmebol and the president of UEFA, the Slovenian Aleksandr Ceferin.

"We have a lot of affinity and harmony with UEFA. We exchange knowledge and experiences. UEFA also had to change the venue of the Champions League from Istanbul to Portugal. And in the meeting where they made the decision, the first thing they said was: 'If Conmebol could do it, we can do it too."

Both the Copa America and the European Championship were due to be held in 2020, but were postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the medium term, Dominguez and Ceferin's project is that the champions of both tournaments, which will henceforth be played synchronously, will compete in an intercontinental national team trophy, a grand final between European and South American soccer.

The final of the current European Championship, which for the first time was played in several European countries, will be played this Sunday, July 11, at London's Wembley Stadium.

Homepage photo: Conmebol

Written by Sebastián Fest

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