The Brazilian Football Confederation has abandoned the 2022 FIFA Futsal America’s Cup in Brazil. The competition is scheduled to take place from January 29 to February 6 at the Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro.
In an official letter addressed on Monday (27) to the President of the South American Football Confederation, Alejandro Dominguez, the Brazilian organization cited the increase in cases of Covid-19 and restrictions on passenger movement to justify the cancellation request. The request is detected and confirmed by GE Gateway Leaf.
The document was co-authored by the National Committee of Football Doctors (CNMF). The main stalemate will be a requirement by CONMEBOL, meaning that the rules of entry for athletes, technical committees, referees, members of the organizing committee and other participants in the event, become more flexible.
According to current regulations, visitors must provide proof of vaccination against Covid-19 when disembarking at airports or crossing land borders, except for those who have been prevented from receiving doses for medical reasons and residing in countries proven to lack vaccination.
A negative RT-PCR test performed within 72 hours prior to or a negative antigen test within the previous 24 hours is also required. Those who are exempt from the passport must undergo a quarantine period of up to 14 days.
CONMEBOL’s request was not well received by the Brazilian Football Confederation. In the official letter, the Brazilian organization mentioned the “difficulty of obtaining an exception by the specified date” and stated that it was “recommended” to move the competition elsewhere. Confederation of South America has not yet expressed itself.
The position of the Brazilian Football Confederation was completely different in May this year, and still during the administration of Rogerio Capoclo, when Brazil offered to host the Copa America soccer after Argentina and Colombia withdrew, also due to the epidemic. At that time, the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) and Conmebol had the support of the President of the Republic, Jair Bolsonaro, to implement the event in the country.
Capoclo was sacked after allegations of moral and sexual harassment, and Ednaldo Rodriguez took over the presidency of the Brazilian Football Confederation, at the end of August.
Motivated by the omicron variant, Covid-19 numbers have been rapidly increasing. Data from the Our World in Data platform, linked to the University of Oxford (UK), indicated last Monday (27) a moving average of 854,603 new daily cases across the planet: a new record in the epidemic. In Brazil, the new strain is already responsible for more than 30% of the contamination, according to a survey coordinated by the Todos pela Saúde Institute.
The rise of Covid-19 has also had an impact on the sports world. Authorities in Spain, France and Germany have again restricted the ability to attend sporting events. Clubs such as Real Madrid and Barcelona are facing an outbreak of disease among their players, and many matches have been postponed.
Last week, the Brazilian national futsal team met opponents in their group for the Copa America 2022: Uruguay, Colombia, Ecuador and Chile. Argentina, Paraguay, Venezuela, Bolivia and Peru ranked the other.
The current champion, Brazil is the biggest winner of the continental competition, winning ten titles. Argentina appear in a second away with a difference of two.
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