Peru's Inca trial

By Tim Vickery

Peruvian desperately need something to cheer about

All over South America championships are coming to a conclusion.

On Sunday, Cruzeiro won the title in Brazil. Other winners include Boca Juniors in Argentina, Libertad in Paraguay, Penarol in Uruguay... but no one in Peru.

The Peruvian clubs owe money to the players, so the players went on strike.

An attempt was made to fulfil fixtures with junior sides and, when that was deemed to have failed last week, the Peruvian FA scrapped the championship. It is hard to see who benefits from the decision.

Obviously no games means no income, and so the financial situation of the clubs can only get worse.

Meanwhile, some of the players have taken other jobs, and the players' union may send a team to play friendlies in Argentina to raise money for its members.

It is a bleak scenario, but perhaps help is at hand.

Next year Peru is set to stage the Copa America, South America's competition for national teams. In 2005, the country will also play host to the World Under-17 Cup.

This has presented Peruvian football with an opportunity which it intends to seize.

Arturo Woodman, president of the 2004 organising committee, is determined to use the event to decentralize the game in his country.

Peruvian football is clearly operating way below its potential and one of the reasons for this - a common problem in South America - is the dearth of facilities outside the capital.

We don't want to limit the event to three cities Peru football chief Arturo Woodman

The Copa America has already been held in Peru on five different occasions - in 1927, 1935, 1939, 1953 and 1957. Each time all of the games were played in Lima's National Stadium.

This time it will be different.

"We could stage the 2004 Copa just in Lima, Arequipa and Chiclayo, but we don't want to limit the event to three cities," says Woodman.

"We want to decentralize the tournament and use it to improve our sporting infrastructure. We hope this will be a key moment, a relaunch for our football."

The aim is that next year's tournament will be staged in seven different cities.

The government has committed itself to a $6m investment to bring the stadiums up to scratch.

Now Peru is caught up in a race against time. Woodman admits the stadiums in Tacna in the south and Puira and Trujillo in the north will only be ready a month before the Copa America gets under way.

It remains to be seen whether the South American Federation will approve such a tight timescale. And there are other problems.

The company which owns the TV rights is believed to favour a maximum of five cities.

There is also the question of the extreme altitude of Cuzco, once the heart of the Inca empire and a venue Woodman is desperate to use in order to boost tourism.

Whatever the outcome, Peruvian football should feel the benefit of the extra investment, and perhaps they might manage to make it to the end of next year's championship.

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