AIFF awaits FIFA's call on organising U-17 Women's World Cup

There are growing concerns surrounding the competition as the coronavirus pandemic is on a global rise.

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) is remaining hopeful that they will be able to go through with hosting the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup later this year despite the Coronavirus outbreak suspending sport all around the globe.

India has also seen all its sporting activities shut down, with the I-League season unlikely to be completed because of the growing crisis in the country. However, AIFF remains hopeful that they’ll be ready to host the global tournament later this year.

There are still seven months to go for the competition, but AIFF general secretary Kushal Das has insisted that they’ll wait for FIFA’s ruling on what to do.

He told PTI, “FIFA will take a call on this, they are keeping a track of all the developments and we will see how it goes.

“Yes, there is still a lot of time left and we will wait and watch the developments in the coming time.”

The European and African qualifiers for the tournament are yet to take place and unlikely to be done anytime soon because of the surmounting situation in the continents.

FIFA is reported to be working with all the confederations regarding coming up with the dates for the respective qualifiers for the tournament.

Last week, FIFA has noted that they are monitoring the situation regarding the COVID-19 outbreak in India and are also exploring alternate solutions for the same.

They said, “FIFA is currently monitoring developments regarding the coronavirus outbreak in India to decide the future of the U-17 Women's World Cup which is slated to be held in the country in November.

“FIFA is also working with the Local Organising Committee to identify any potential impact on preparations for the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup India 2020, as well as finding alternative solutions to upcoming events that were planned in India in the lead up to the tournament.”

The FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup is scheduled to take place between November 2-21 November, with the final set to be played in Navi Mumbai. Kolkata, Guwahati, Ahmedabad and Bhubaneswar are the remaining host cities for the same.

The India U-17 Women’s team will also be participating in the tournament for the very first time, but it remains to be seen whether the competition even moves ahead as scheduled later this year.