Breaking: FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup revised dates finalized

The tournament has been pushed back a few months.

The Bureau of FIFA Council has confirmed the rescheduled dates for the U-17 Women’s World Cup that is supposed to be held in India. The tournament would be played from 17 February 2021-07 March 2021. The original eligibility criteria for the participation of players in this World Cup would remain the same. Players born on or after 1 January 2003 and on or before 31 December 2005 would be allowed to feature in this championship.

It is essential to note that the Women’s U-17 World Cup was initially slated to take place from 02 November 2020-21 November 2020. However, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has had an adverse impact upon countries all across the world. Accordingly, India is still undergoing a government-imposed nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the virus.

Moreover, most of the qualifying tournaments that would determine the countries that could partake in this World Cup are yet to happen. Hence, it was deemed unsuitable for all the logistical arrangements to be made in time for the Women’s World Cup to occur in November this year.

According to the press release, the FIFA-Confederations COVID-19 Working Group had made recommendations for the same after a thorough assessment and examination of the impact caused by the pandemic. Similarly, the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup is now organized to transpire from 20 January 2021-06 February 2021 in Costa Rica/Panama. The FIFA Futsal World Cup has been postponed to 12 September 2021-03 October 2021 in Lithuania.

All these three announcements were made at the same time. Now, it would be vital to understand where the matches of this Under-17 World Cup in India would happen.  Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Guwahati, Kolkata and Navi Mumbai were announced to be the venues for this tournament. The final match was programmed to be played in the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.

With a change in dates, one could await a further confirmation on this particular aspect from the AIFF and FIFA soon. The Local Organizing Committee expressed their contentment with this decision taken by the world football's organizing body.

They stated, “Following today’s announcement by FIFA, the AIFF and LOC are pleased with the confirmation of the new dates for FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup India 2020™️, which will now be held between 17 February and 7 March 2021. The dates were confirmed after taking into account the time needed to complete the UEFA, CONCACAF, CAF, OFC, and CONMEBOL qualification tournaments as well as the best possible conditions in the country to host a successful FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.”

The LOC also observed that all the stakeholders including the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has been supportive of the call taken in consideration with the health of the individuals who would participate and play a part in organizing the tournament.

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