Centennial, in Montevideo, will host the Libertadores and South America Finals in 2021 | The editors

The 2021 Libertadores Cup Final will take place on November 20, Saturday, with a date to be decided. The Copa Sudamericana decision will be on November 6, two weeks in advance.

• Despite social tensions, CONMEBOL plays the Copa America in Colombia and Argentina

Vaccine mediation has its weight of choice

In choosing the capital of Uruguay for the Libertadores Cup decision, Conmebol tore up its selection for the Libertadores final. On February 19 the entity Published the list of nominated stadiums To receive the tournament finals. There, Uruguay is not listed as a possible seat.

The situation has changed drastically in recent weeks, when The Uruguayan government acted as an intermediary to obtain 50,000 vaccines against Covid-19 From the Chinese Sinovac Laboratory. On that occasion, CONMEBOL’s president, Alejandro Dominguez, thanked the Uruguayan government for its “uninterested” assistance in negotiating vaccines – which has already begun to apply in clubs across the continent.

• See the Copa Libertadores schedule

The population vaccination rate also weighs in in Uruguay’s favor, and is higher than the vaccination rate for all countries on the continent – except for Chile. By May 12, 36% of the population had already had at least the first dose of the vaccine. The Uruguayan government has assured CONMEBOL that it will be able to play the games with open gates and with an audience.

In a statement on Wednesday, Konmebol officially indicated that the health situation in Uruguay is affecting the interest of the legendary stadium in connection with the Covid-19 epidemic.

– The expected good health situation for November in Uruguay, a country that plans to vaccinate a high percentage of its population in July, was decisive for the decision in an exceptional year conditional on the epidemic – the memo says.

• See the table for the Copa Sudamericana

During Thursday’s board meeting, Uruguayan Football Association representatives pledged to invest $ 1 million to modernize the Centennial Stadium of the South American Final and Libertadores.

In this way, the Uruguayan government had shown optimism in recent weeks in taking the best of the conflict to take over this year’s Copa Libertadores final. The country’s national sports minister, Sebastian Boza, announced at the end of last month that he had “many hopes” after inspecting the CONMEBOL site, which was the scene of the 1930 World Cup Final, the first in history.

In addition, the only finals will be a relaunch of the Centenario stadium, as part of South America’s bid to host the 2030 World Cup. In fact, the Uruguayan Football Association has put together an investment plan in its main sporting site. With the aim of reaching 2030 with a radical modernization. Still in terms of hotel capacity and airport operation, Montevideo received a high rating – completing CONMEBOL’s statement.