Last Thursday, April 7, the draw for the group stage of the Copa América Femenina Colombia 2022 was held at the headquarters of Conmebol, in the city of Asunción, Paraguay. National team tournament that will be played from 8 to 30 July in Armenia, Bucaramanga and Cali and will award three direct spots to the Australia/New Zealand World Cup in 2023.
After this, Conmebol announced the official calendar showing the matches that will be hosted by the different venues, as well as the opening match, the rest dates and the cities in charge of hosting the final phase of the championship. In total there will be 25 matches and the final phase will be composed of five matches counting final and third and fourth place.
The first two matches of the championship will be played at the Pascual Guerrero stadium in the city of Cali. The inaugural match will be between the Bolivia vs. Ecuador at 4 in the afternoon. Three hours later, at 7 pm, will be the debut of the host team, Colombia, which will host the Paraguayan national team. For the first date in Group A, the team that will rest will be Chile.
Group B will premiere at Armenia's Centenario Stadium on the first weekend of the Copa America. On Saturday, July 9, Uruguay will play Venezuela at 4 in the afternoon and the final match will be the South American classic Brazil vs. Argentina at 7 o'clock in the evening. The team that will have a rest day will be the Peruvian national team.
Colombia's break will be until the third date of Group A, scheduled for Thursday, July 14. In addition, the home team will play a group stage match in the city of Armenia, it will be that of the last date against the Chilean team. Meanwhile, Brazil and Peru will be the ones who leave their host city to go and play Pascual Guerrero in the city of Cali.
The first part of the final phase of the tournament will be with six teams, but only four will aspire to play the grand final. It is worth remembering that it was determined that for this edition three teams per group will enter the final. However, the third parties will play a match between them, while the first of each group will play against the second in the other group. The winners of these matches between first and second will be the finalists and the third and fourth places.
Another of the places awarded by this championship in its final phase will be the women's football tournament at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, this will be for the champions; the runners-up will go to the repechage. While from third to fifth place will have a place at the Pan American Games in 2023, they will be hosted by Chile for which this country's national team has direct quota. In the event that this selection ends up in any of the positions listed, the quota will be given to the next team in the standings.
One of the aspects to keep in mind is that the event will be held four years after the last edition and from 2022 it will be held every 2 years. In addition, there will be an increase in cash prizes, for the champions it will be $1,500,000 and for the runners-up $500,000. For Conmebol president Alejandro Domínguez, this represents progress and sets a tone towards the new future of continental women's football.
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