The League Cup final between O'Higgins and Coquimbo Unido has a new date. According to Cooperativa Deportes PM, the match will be played on Saturday, November 14 at Santa Laura Stadium, in the municipality of Independencia. The ANFP had already proposed that venue, but the authorities rejected it.
Before the new schedule was announced, the president of the National Professional Football Association (ANFP), Pablo Milad, criticized the Metropolitan Presidential Delegation for not authorizing the final, according to BioBioChile. The match had been scheduled for Friday, October 16 at 20:30 at Claro Arena, although one part of BioBioChile's report places it on Saturday the 16th.
The postponement came amid the weather front and mudslide that hit Las Condes and the Metropolitan Region last week. Milad said the ANFP offered alternative venues and none was accepted.
"We offered the option of playing at Santa Laura and were not authorized," Milad told TNT Sports at the fifth football congress. He added that Unión Española, the stadium's owner, had completed the required security improvements and still did not obtain permission.
The official directly challenged what he sees as a contradiction by the authorities: according to him, matches cannot be played, yet concerts with "three or four times as many people" are authorized. "That is a question we should all be asking ourselves," he insisted.
This is the third time the final has been scheduled. It was first set for July and was canceled because of a weather front forecast for central Chile. The second was the match at Claro Arena, postponed again because of bad weather.
The stakes are significant. The Sky Blues and the Pirates will decide the tournament's first champion, who will claim the Chile 3 berth in the 2027 Copa Libertadores.
The chosen date coincides with a break in the First Division for the FIFA international window, when La Roja will play friendlies against Colombia on Friday, November 13 and Tuesday, November 17. The authorities still need to approve the attendance limit, which is expected to be a maximum of 10 thousand spectators.