Brazil
The main discussion is around the return of state championships. The first one to set the date for the games was the Santa Catarina Championship, which resumes on July 8. Big states like São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are still debating the return to training, but they are far from setting the date for the return of the games. Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Sul, Ceará and Goiás are some states that already have teams training, but also have not yet decided when the ball will roll again. Meanwhile the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation), which organizes national competitions such as the Brazilian Championship and the Brazilian Cup, has not yet released a possible date for the return of the tournaments, as it awaits the definition of the states to know how will be their calendars.
Argentina
The AFA (Argentina Football Association) canceled the 2020 season, determining that there will be no relegations until the end of 2021 and defining the clubs that will play next year's continental tournaments according to the classification of when the competitions were stopped. Argentine football awaits the approval of the Ministry of Health to resume the activity with a brief tournament until the end of the year and conclude the Argentine Cup that was only at the beginning when the games were stopped.
Bolivia
The situation of football in the country is more complicated. On June 3, the Bolivian Football Federation handed over its return protocol to the Ministry of Health. However, the authorities' response was to ask for patience. Estimates from the Bolivian government indicate that the peak of the pandemic should be in August, after that period, one month later, training would return and another month after the ball would roll. With that, the return of the national championship should occur only in October.
Chile
The Council of Club Presidents unanimously approved the proposal of the ANFP Return Commission and the professional football games at Chlie are scheduled to start again on July 31. The confirmation of that date still depends on the confirmation from the health authorities as the country still suffers greatly from the pandemic of coronavirus.
Colombia
The Colombian case is similar to that of Bolivia, but a little more optimistic. The country's football federation handed over to the Ministries of Sport and Health a sanitation protocol that was intended to resume games. The document will be analyzed by the portfolios and there is an expectation of returning from competitions between the end of July and the beginning of August, all matches at closed gates.
Ecuador
Even though it is one of the countries most affected by COVID-19, the Ecuadorian federation is studying ways to return to the National Football Championship between the end of July and the beginning of August. LigaPro has two options for the return of the games: the first is to resume the dispute of the round in which the championship was interrupted, and the second is to promote a new format to fit next year's calendar.
Paraguay
Paraguayan football has its games scheduled for the 17th of July. The president of the Paraguayan Football Association (APF) met with the Minister of Health and Welfare this week to align the last details of the security protocol back to the pitch. According to the organization, the meeting was a success and that without government support the continuation of the schedule would not be possible.
Peru
Peruvian players and TV have been pushing for the return of football and it is speculated that the ball will roll in August. However, the country still suffers from many cases of COVID-19 and it is feared that the mortality rate may increase in the coming months. Therefore, the date of the return of football is still undefined.
Uruguay
Stopped since March 13, Uruguayan football is studying to release training in July and return to play in August, if the numbers of contagions and death in the country decrease. Meanwhile, the players are unemployed receiving part of the wages paid by the clubs and also a government aid that can reach a maximum of US$ 44,000 dollars.
Venezuela
In the country of Nicolas Maduro, the organizers of the championship asked the Venezuelan Football Federation to resume the games on July 5 and to close the season on November 29. However, they also called for the number of clubs in next year's tournament to be reduced to 16 in an attempt to cut costs. Nothing has been decided yet.
Conmebol
The highest entity of South American football lives the greatest impasse among all entities on the continent. As each country experiences a different pandemic scenario, some with more cases and others with less, Conmebol has not yet defined what it will do with the Copa Libertadores and the Copa Sudamericana. Some speculate that there may be a cancellation of the 2020 edition of the tournaments, which would only return in 2021 with the current edition's clubs as a participant. But if health conditions improve, the goal is to finish the season even if some of the final rounds should have to be played in the first months of 2021. The Copa America, the continental tournament with national teams originally scheduled to be played in July in Argentina and Colombia as venues, has been postponed to 2021.
Source: GMB
