When the 2024 Copa America was moved to the U.S. amid struggles to find a host in South America, it was seen as a major opportunity to showcase the U.S. ahead of the 2026 World Cup. Instead, tournament organizers CONMEBOL have mostly turned the Copa America into a mess. And Sunday’s final was no exception.
As fans lined up to enter Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens ahead of the final between Colombia and Argentina, dozens of fans breached the stadium gates and attempted to enter the venue without tickets. This created a situation where outnumbered police officers and stadium staff tried to apprehend as many people as possible, but the chaos at the gates drew everything to a halt.
BREAKING: The gates at Hard Rock Stadium have been breached and scores of fans have begun streaming in for the 2024 #CopaAmerica final. Police are scrambling to try and stem the flow of people. pic.twitter.com/fkoMMYGk8K
— Kyle Bonn (@the_bonnfire) July 14, 2024
Ultimately, organizers paused entry into the stadium, which led to a mostly empty view of the stands as the scheduled kickoff time approached.
Teams out for warmups prior to the 2024 #CopaAmerica final. pic.twitter.com/GGbnffelp1
— Kyle Bonn (@the_bonnfire) July 14, 2024
But by doing so, it created so much congestion outside the stadium gates that kickoff had to be delayed by at least 30 minutes.
COPA AMERICA FINAL KICKOFF DELAYED UNTIL 8:30PM ET
Poor crowd control and lack of security has caused complete chaos at Hard Rock Stadium, causing police to close the gates. Fans have paid more than $1,000/ticket, and this is what #CopaAmerica delivers?!pic.twitter.com/ydYARCOd5o
— World Soccer Talk (@worldsoccertalk) July 14, 2024
Not only that, fans were seemingly making their way in via the vents.
More people getting into the game through… what??? The vent??
What is happening in the Copa America Final? pic.twitter.com/QKgkwEmnCW
— Tactical Manager (@ManagerTactical) July 15, 2024
There will likely be plenty of finger pointing between CONMEBOL and Hard Rock Stadium staff after the match. This is a major international tournament final, and there isn’t an excuse for organizers to be wholly unprepared for a potential rush of unticketed fans. These are scenarios that stadiums and crowd control are supposed to prepare for.
Miami-Dade Police released a statement about the unruly fan behavior prior to the match.
— Miami-Dade Police (@MiamiDadePD) July 14, 2024
Yet, judging from the entire tournament, CONMEBOL did little preparation at all.
