Copa America, 2021

Copa América 2021

This is the 47th edition of the Copa América and was due to be staged in 2020.
In addition to the ten members associations, the CONMEBOL Council approved the participation of Australia and Qatar in June 2019 as the two invited teams.
They were the two previous winners of the AFC Asian Cup. Qatar would be making their second appearance while Australia would be making their debut appearance.
The tournament was due to be hosted by more than one country for the first time since 1983. The stated objective was to bring South American football to all the fans in the continent.
On 13 March 2019, it was announced that Argentina and Colombia would be the co-hosts after the United States bid was rejected.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in South America, on 17 March 2020, CONMEBOL announced that the tournament would be postponed for a year.
Australia and Qatar also decided to withdraw, so the competition reverted to the ten member associations only.
From the two groups of five, the top four teams will qualify for the knock-out stages.
On 20 May 2021, it was announced that Colombia would no longer be allowed to host their games due to civil unrest.
Argentina also withdrew 11 days later due to a surge in COVID-19 cases. Despite suffering the second-highest death toll in the world during the pandemic, Brazil immediately replaced them as the hosts.
Brazil were the reigning champions and had won all five previous editions when they had been the sole hosts.