KEIR RADNEDGE REPORTS: Argentina and Colombia, after all, will co-host the Copa America next year.

CONMEBOL, the South American football confederation, decided in Rio de Janeiro overnight to put its faith in the widely-split event in June 2020.

Almost up until the start of a council meeting uncertainty had shrouded Argentina’s commitment because of financial concerns. However, these were apparently dispelled just in time.

The opening stage of the tournament will be split as follows:

North (Colombia) Zone: Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, plus one guest nation;

South (Argentina) Zone: Chile, Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia and another guest.

Colombia federation president Ramon Jesurun delivered to CONMEBOL a letter setting out formal state support from President Iván Duque.

The country’s proposed venue cities are Bogota, Barranquilla, Medellín and Cali.

Argentina’s prospective venues include Buenos Aires (Boca Juniors’ Bombonera and River Plate’s Monumental), Avellaneda, La Plata , Cordoba, Mendoza and San Juan or Santiago del Estero .

A decision will be taken later this week on the venue for the finals.

CONMEBOL president Alejandro Dominguez said: “The central objective of this change of structure is to provide more opportunities to the fans and geographically bring the matches of the selections to the South American public.”

Each six-team group will send  four teams into the knockout stages consisting of quarter-finals, semi-finals and final. This format adds up to 38 matches, 12 more than in the current format.

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