Millonarios, today, does not have a stadium for two Libertadores games: what are you going to do?

The South American Football Confederation announced this Tuesday the date of the draw for the group stage of the Copa Libertadores and published the competition regulations, which begins this Tuesday with the duel between Academia Puerto Cabello, from Venezuela, and Defensor Sporting, from Uruguay.

The regulations ratified a problem that affects Colombian teams due to a lack of planning in the League and, in addition, causes additional damage to Millonarios, who would be forced to find a stadium for two of their three group stage matches.

The draw will be on March 19 and Millonarios will go to pot 3. This means that those led by Alberto Gamero will have to play at home on dates 1, 4 and 5 of the group stage. The first day will be in the week of April 3 and that creates two problems for Millonarios: the first, that the El Campín stadium is busy with the staging of Karol G's concerts, which will have two dates on stage, 5 and 6 of April.

And the second, that Dimayor, when it established the League calendar, scheduled the classic against Santa Fe for those same days, as EL TIEMPO warned on December 23; also knowing about the performance of the 'Bichota' recital.

On the fifth date, Millos will be local again, in the week of May 15. And, again, it comes across a concert in El Campín, which will be offered by the vallenato singer Silvestre Dangond. Thus, the team would have to find a venue to play two of its three Libertadores games and play against Santa Fe with substitutes.

The president of Dimayor, Fernando Jaramillo, had already warned of the situation when the 2024 competition calendar was approved, in which only two days were reduced, by eliminating the 'classics date'.

“I was clear, and with the administration as well, that we must have a serious commitment in this defined championship format, which is exactly the same as the one that existed in 2023. But next year we will have no margin for error, and postponing matches “It's going to be very complex. That's why the clubs clearly committed that they have to play with alternate teams, and with alternate stadiums,” Jaramillo said then, in an interview with ESPN.

“35 players are going to register, and obviously it will happen that some teams will be tight due to the schedule. “I am sure that the teams that participate in Libertadores and Sudamericana must play with alternate teams,” he added.

Millonarios is not the only one affected by the crossing of dates between the Libertadores and the local League. Junior will also be affected, since the first two dates of the group stage coincide with a local tournament day, one of them, precisely, against the blues in Bogotá.

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EL TIEMPO learned that Millonarios was only officially notified this Monday of the possible dates of the Libertadores dispute and there is concern about the issue.

Millonarios clings to a precedent to see if he can stay in his house. When the team faced Atlético Mineiro in the 2023 Copa Libertadores, the south stand of the Mineirao stadium could not be used because there was a stage set up for a concert by the Brazilian band Shank.

With this background, the club awaits a meeting with the new director of the IDRD, Daniel García Cañón, to find out the conditions of the lease contracts for the two concerts and to see if there is enough time to play the Libertadores in front of their audience.