November’s U-17 World Cup in India deferred by FIFA
With qualifying tournaments stalled in most continents, world body pushes back women’s event
nKOLKATA: The women’s under-17 football World Cup, scheduled in five Indian cities from November 2-21, has been deferred as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic, FIFA announced on Saturday. The decision was taken at the first meeting of the Fifa-confederations Working Group through a conference call.
“New dates will be identified,” a FIFA statement said. The women’s under-20 World Cup in Panama and Costa Rica from August 10-30 has also been postponed. “We were looking forward to hosting the tournament in November this year, but…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,” said the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and the Local Organising Committee (LOC) in a statement.
“The stadiums are ready but this (postponement) will lead to some cost overruns which we will have to discuss with FIFA,” said Kushal Das, the AIFF general secretary. Sports Authority of India had approved over ~14 crore on a plan to prepare the Indian team. It included exposure trips and a four-nation tournament India were due to host.
Clarity will be needed on the staff hired by the LOC. “Till the end of November they are on contract with the LOC anyway. Before that we will need to discuss the way forward,” said Das.
Sixteen teams will take part in the 32-match biennial competition of which this will be the seventh edition. Barring India, only Japan and North Korea had qualified before football was halted to prevent the spread of the virus.
The final rounds of Africa’s qualifiers were scheduled in May
Will the postponement hurt India’s hosting rights?
No.
Can it be rescheduled? If yes, when?
FIFA hasn’t given the new dates, but 13 berths in the 16-team tournament are yet to be filled through continental qualifiers (only two Asian teams and hosts India are
as was the UEFA women’s under-17 championship. The Oceania under-16 competition, postponed last year due to an outbreak of measles in the Pacific region, was due from April 6. The South American under-17 championship confirmed). For the new dates, the continental competitions will have to be completed—europe, North America, South America, Africa and Oceania tournaments are postponed.
Will a 2021 tournament affect the present age criteria?
FIFA has not commented. Players born on or after January
was supposed to start in Uruguay on April 15, and the Concacaf championship in Mexico from April 18-May 3.
Three teams each from Europe, South America, Concacaf, Africa and Asia and one from
1, 2003 are currently eligible. The criterion could remain unchanged even for a 2021 tournament, effectively making it a U-18 World Cup. For the postponed Tokyo Olympics, FIFA retained the original age criteria for men (the women’s event has no age limit). If the cut-off date is changed to January 1, 2004, many from the current squad
Oceania will make the final 16.
The tournament is supposed to be held in Kolkata, Guwahati, Navi Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Bhubaneswar. As per the fixtures released last February, Navi Mumbai will host the final and would become ineligible.
Other key decisions by Fifaconfederations Working Group
Postpone international matches scheduled in June for men and women; keep the original eligibility criteria (players born on or after 01.01.1997 and three additional players) for the Olympics.
the third-place play-off in a double-header. The semi-finals have been allotted to Navi Mumbai and Bhubaneswar. Kolkata, Navi Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Bhubaneswar will host the quarter-finals.