Argentina have been dropped as hosts of the 2021 Copa America with just 13 days before the tournament kicks off.
The South American football federation Conmebol claim the decision to remove Argentina as hosts of the competition scheduled for June 13 was due to the ‘present circumstances’.
As it stands, the the tournament has no host with the news coming just a week after Colombia – who were billed to co-host the competition, got stripped of the rights owing to an anti-government protests in the country.
Though the continents’ football governing body Conmebol did not reveal the nature of the circumstances that led to the decision, but Argentina is currently experiencing a surge in Covid cases.
Officials from the organisation will meet on Monday to decide on the next steps for the tournament, which was held over from 2020 due to the pandemic and features 10 competing nations.
Argentina saw Covid cases increase in May and prompted the government to mandate a strict new lockdown.
And of course, Thursday saw a record one-day number of new cases and the overall death toll had hit 76,693 by the weekend, according to data from the World Health Organisation.
Even some players who had returned to South America to prepare for the tournament expressed doubts, with Luis Suarez of Uruguay telling reporters on Friday, “We have to give priority to the health of human beings”.
