World football governing body FIFA, on Tuesday, announced the cancellation of the Women’s U-17 World Cup in India, which was postponed to 2021 due to the global virus.
FIFA further stated that it has decided India will host the 2022 edition of the tournament. The Bureau of the FIFA Council took the decision keeping in mind the current situation of the pandemic across the globe.
Earlier, in March last year, the FIFA Council had appointed India as the host of the competition in a meeting in Miami, US. The Women’s U-17 World Cup was scheduled to be held from November 2 to 21 this year.
Meanwhile, FIFA has also cancelled the U-20 Women's World Cup, which was scheduled to be held in Costa Rica in 2020. Costa Rica has been handed the hosting rights of the 2022 U-20 Women's World Cup.
“Since the previous decision earlier this year to reschedule both tournaments to early 2021, FIFA has been consulting with all stakeholders. As a result and after careful consideration of the feedback received by the stakeholders combined with the inability to further postpone these tournaments, the FIFA-Confederations Covid-19 Working Group subsequently recommended that the 2020 editions of the two women’s youth tournaments be cancelled and that the hosting rights for the 2022 editions be offered to the countries that were due to host the 2020 editions,” a release from FIFA stated.
For the Women’s U-17 World Cup in India, Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan (VYBK) in Kolkata, Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati, the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar and the EKA Arena in Ahmedabad had been picked as the venues for the competition.
Feature image courtesy: AFP / Chris Bouroncle
