With the capacity of only 28,000, the stadium had never hosted any major football tournament, except being the home of Atlético Bucaramanga, a top division club of Colombia's Categoría Primera A.

The Colombians made their group stage (played in Estadio Olímpico Pascual Guerrero, Cali) route smoothly at the beginning by beating Paraguay 4–2, before easily surpassed a weaker Bolivian side 3–0.

[4][5] The Colombians then faced a sterner Ecuadorian side, and only managed to snatch the win thanked to Linda Caicedo, all came at the first half as it finished 2–1.

[8] The most decorated team in the tournament, having won it seven times, including the recent 2018 edition, Brazil was drawn in Group B with the other South American champions Argentina, as well as Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela, Brazil proved too powerful for the group stage; the Brazilians easily dispatched Argentina 4–0 in the first match, before settled another easy 3–0 win over Uruguay.

[11] With the top of the table assured, Brazil obliterated a weak Peru side 6–0 to conquer the group undefeated and conceding no goal.