Paraguayan Alejandro Domínguez, elected in 2016 as president of Conmebol, and re-elected in 2018, was again elected this Friday for a third four-year term (2023-2027) at the Congress of the South American Football Confederation, meeting in Qatar .
Source: AFP
Domínguez, a 50-year-old businessman, was the only candidate. In Doha he was elected at the end of a vote of the ten South American federations, after having succeeded in reforming the institution whose command he placed after the arrest of his predecessor and compatriot Juan Ángel Napout, who had been sentenced to nine years in prison in United States for his involvement in a vast corruption scandal.
“We have made an important change in South American football, we managed to change history and become a much better confederation than before, but we still have a long way to go,” said Domínguez.
“I believe that as long as we continue to be the most transparent confederation in the world, we will be able to follow this policy of developing South American football with confidence.”
In the framework of the covid-19 pandemic, Domínguez was proud of having managed to organize the 2021 Copa América in Brazil, while the competition was initially planned in Argentina and Colombia.
To do this, Conmebol obtained 50,000 doses of the Sinovac vaccine, intended to immunize players, coaches and referees for the tournament.
“We were the only non-governmental organization in the world that obtained a batch of vaccines to immunize its ecosystem,” he said during the congress, which was attended by FIFA president Gianni Infantino, a few hours before the draw for the 2022 World Cup in Doha. .
Domínguez also welcomed Conmebol’s collaboration with its European counterpart, UEFA: the two confederations plan to organize competitions together, starting with the ‘Finalissima’, the gala match scheduled for early June in London between Italy and Argentina, current champions of the European Championship and the Copa América respectively.
– League of Nations with Europe –
A reform of the League of Nations, a UEFA competition launched in 2018 to replace international friendly matches, was also evoked, with the possible inclusion of South American teams, as UEFA vice president Zbigniew Boniek suggested in December. Although it will be necessary to see if finally that project, launched as a reaction to the controversial proposal of a biennial World Cup, is maintained after FIFA backpedaled on that dossier.
“We are working openly so that we can do the Nations League together with Europe, so that this calendar of friendlies is a calendar of international competition of the highest level,” Domínguez said at a press conference after being ratified for a new mandate.
“We see that much more positive for South American football than a World Cup every two years,” he added.
“We are working on feasibility and feasibility. Not only limiting men’s football, but doing the same with women’s football and perhaps in the short term with youth, ”he specified.
