The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) has been working with the Argentine and Columbian governments to collect COVID-19 vaccines in order to allow fans attendance at this year's Copa America.

The 47th edition of the top football tournament in South America was initially scheduled to happen in 2020 but was postponed by a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, it will be organized jointly by Argentina and Columbia between June 13 and July 10.

It will be the first time for the world's oldest international football event to be held in two countries.

However, Copa America, like the Tokyo Olympics, which was postponed as well for the same reason, faced a similar problem: Should there be spectators in the stadiums?

People's passion for football in South America is unquestionable, but so is the high coronavirus infection rate, not to mention the slow distribution of vaccines.

"We are days away from starting our next edition of the Copa America in a new format and with two countries that have tremendous football fans who are eager to host us. We are working together with both governments to be able to get as many vaccines as possible so that the general public have the opportunity to be at the stadiums to cheer on their heroes," said Alejandro Dominguez, president of CONMEBOL in the organization's annual congress in Paraguay.

Australia and Qatar, which were invited to participate in Copa America this year, announced their withdrawal last month because the competition clashes with rescheduled 2022 Asian World Cup qualifiers.

The attending teams have been divided into the following two groups:

South Zone: Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay, Chile and Paraguay

North Zone: Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru

Argentina and Chile will meet for the opener game at the Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires on June 13.