Pitana will referee Copa America opener

The CONMEBOL referees committee has announced this Tuesday in a statement the appointment of the 43 year-old Argentine for the tournament opener. He also refereed the 2018 World Cup final between France and Croatia. 

Pitana will be assisted on the sidelines by his compatriots Hernan Maidana and Juan P. Belatti. The fourth official will be the Ecuadorian Roddy Zambrano, while Patricio Loustau will be the main VAR. 

The hosts Brazil will take on Bolivia on Friday at the Morumbi stadium in Sao Paulo, in the inaugural match of the 2019 Copa America, which will end on 7th July with the final at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro. 

CONMEBOL have also appointed the Colombian Wilmar Roldan to the Venezuela-Peru game which the other match in Group A. 

The match between Venezuelan and Peruvians will be played on the 15th of this month at the Arena do Gremio stadium in Porto Alegre in Southern Brazil. 

The day afterwards, the Chilean Roberto Tobar will be the main referee for the Argentina v Colombia at the Arena Fonte Nova in Salvador (South-Eastern Brazil). 

Both teams are in Group B together with Paraguay and Qatar, while Group C features Chile, Ecuador, Japan and Uruguay. 

Qatar and Japan are the invited teams for this edition of the Copa America. It is the oldest international tournament in the world and Brazil will host it for the fifth time in their history. 

Whenever Brazil have hosted the Copa America, they have won the title.