Coronavirus: FIFA postpones U-17 Women’s World Cup in India

The AIFF too accepted the international governing body's decision on the situation.

FIFA has officially postponed the 2020 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup amid the growing coronavirus crisis around the world forcing them to postpone every single tournament or qualifier.

The U-17 Women’s World Cup was supposed to take place from November, but with the uncertainty revolving around the coronavirus pandemic, they’ve decided to postpone it till a new date is decided by their working committee.

'To postpone the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup India 2020 - originally scheduled for November 2020' was one of the several recommendations made by the committee. "New dates will be identified,” said FIFA in a statement, having unanimously approved the recommendations.

The tournament was supposed to be the first of such tournament India has hosted after successfully hosting the FIFA Men’s U-17 World Cup back in 2017, which was won by England.

It was supposed to take place across five cities, Navi Mumbai, Kolkata, Guwahati, Ahmedabad and Bhubaneswar with Mumbai playing host to the grand finale.

FIFA has also decided upon creating a sub-working group on the women’s international match calendar to consider potential changes to the calendar and dates of postponed FIFA tournaments.

Kushal Das admitted that the All India Football Federation (AIFF) has to accept this decision due to the growing situation around the globe.

“Just like other sports events which were postponed due to the dreaded disease, it(postponement of the U-17 Women’s World Cup) was to happen. We have to accept the decision,” the AIFF general secretary told PTI.

“The qualifying events in Europa and Africa and other confederations are yet to be held and so the decision was on expected lines,” he also added.

Das also mentioned that the tournament will likely be rescheduled to take place next year. The AIFF and Local Organising Committee also supported the decision with a statement.

“The All India Football Federation and Local Organising Committee are supportive of the decision by FIFA to postpone FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. We agree that this has been made with the highest regard for public health, and the participating teams, host cities, staff and visiting fans, and keeps the best interests of everyone in mind."

“We were, of course, looking forward to hosting the tournament in November this year, but at the same time, we are mindful of all those around the world and in our country potentially impacted by our decisions," read the statement.

"For us at the moment, the primary concern is the health and wellbeing of every stakeholder involved in the Tournament. We don’t want to take any risk that is detrimental to our community before it is clear that there is no threat to people’s health due to this pandemic.”

It also added, “The LOC and AIFF will work with FIFA to determine the most suitable dates for the Tournament. We look forward to hosting a successful tournament in the near future.”

In a separate statement, the LOC also stated how the public health is a priority and why the decision was an appropriate one. They said, “We agree that this has been made with the highest regard for public health, and the participating teams, host cities, staff and visiting fans, and keeps the best interests of everyone in mind.

“We were, of course, looking forward to hosting the tournament in November this year, but at the same time, we are mindful of all those around the world and in our country potentially impacted by our decisions.

“For us at the moment, the primary concern is the health and well-being of every stakeholder involved in the Tournament. We don’t want to take any risk that is detrimental to our community before it is clear that there is no threat to people’s health due to this pandemic.”

The U-17 Women’s World Cup was supposed to take place from November 2-21 with the India U-17 Women’s Team also making their debut on the grandest stage. But Thomas Dennerby and Co now must wait until next year when a rescheduled date is found and when the tournament finally kicks off after the coronavirus scare passes away.