View of the Monumental stadium in Lima on November 6, 2019, after it was chosen for the 2019 ... [+]
Due to unrest in Chile, the final of the 2019 Copa Libertadores between Brazil’s Flamengo and Argentina’s River Plate will be played in Peru.
The match will be played at Lima’s 80,000 capacity Estadio Monumental (a good omen for River Plate perhaps) on November 23rd. That gives Peru just over two weeks to organize the match.
That’s no easy task for any country, but Peru have struggled to host finals in the past. The country was stripped of the rights to host this year’s Under-17 World Cup, which is currently taking place in Brazil, and was supposed to host the final of this year’s Copa Sudamerica (South America’s equivalent of the Europa League), which was moved to Paraguay.
The stadium chosen for the Copa Libertadores final has also come in for criticism over its safety when at full capacity and its poor transport links. Peru sometimes play international games there, but often play them at the more modern Estadio Nacional instead. The Estadio Nacional can’t be used for the Copa Libertadores final as it is hosting a concert on the same day. Hopefully Peru will pull off hosting the match without any problems, but with such short notice, it’ll take a lot of effort to make that happen.
CONMEBOL may not have been able to have predicted the unrest in Santiago which forced this final to be moved to Lima, but after the fiasco of the second leg of last year’s final, which ended up being played in Spain, it would have been prudent to have some kind of back-up plan. If they had made such plans in advance, Peru could have ensured their other national stadium wasn’t double-booked and would have had plans in place to make sure this final could go ahead smoothly. Even with no plans in advance, CONMEBOL could have started making contingency plans earlier than they did, as the problems in Chile had been threatening this fixture for a while before it was eventually moved to Peru.
Alternatively, CONMEBOL could have used the situation in Chile as an opportunity to host the final somewhere half-way between Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro so that fans of both sides would find it easier to get to the match.
CONMEBOL isn’t the only soccer confederation to have difficulties hosting a final this month. The AFC Cup, Asia’s equivalent of the Europa League, was supposed to be played in Pyeongyang after North Korean side April 25 reached the final. However, after issues with broadcasting the game from Pyeongyang, it was moved to Shanghai on short notice, and then moved again a few days later to Kuala Lumpur.
The common-sense thing to do would have been to switch the AFC Cup final to the home of the finalist, Lebanon’s Al-Ahed. This may have been a bit problematic as Lebanon is also seeing some civil unrest, but it would have at least meant that fans of one of the finalists would have been able to watch the game. In the end, the final was played out in an almost empty stadium thousands of miles from either finalist’s home country.
Finals present a unique problem in that a two-legged final allows both teams to have a home match for their supporters, but lacks the drama and occasion of a one-off match, but with a one off match at a neutral venue, the host city is unlikely to suit both sets of fans, especially when it comes to continental competitions.
South America made the switch from a two-legged final to a one-off event this year, but this means regular fans can be priced out of attending the final if it ends up on the other side of the continent.
Even in Europe, this can cause farcical situations, like in last year’s Europa League final, when fans of Arsenal and Chelsea, who play just a few miles apart, had to make the difficult trek to Azerbaijan to watch their teams play in the final. When it comes to larger continents like South America and Asia, such situations can occur almost every season. And when the venue is changed at the last minute, fans can be left short-changed after booking flights and accommodation for the original host city.
Some situations, like civil unrest or natural disasters are of course beyond the control of soccer confederations, but those confederations could do far more in terms of clearer contingency plans with back-up venues and transport arrangements so that the joy of reaching a final isn’t replaced by frustration at being unable to watch it.
