The Women’s U-17 World Cup in India, which was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was on Tuesday cancelled by FIFA.
The country was, however, handed the hosting rights of the 2022 edition.
Costa Rica will host the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup 2022.
The decisions were taken by the Bureau of the FIFA Council which took stock of the current global pandemic situation and its continuing impact on football.
“... 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,” the FIFA said in a statement.
AIFF’s reaction
“We will continue all the initiatives that were planned for the development and promotion of women’s football.
“We now look forward to an exciting 2022, with India hosting not one but two international women’s tournaments [the AFC Women’s Asian Cup],” read a statement from the All India Football Federation (AIFF).
“In light of not being able to host the tournament next year, FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup taking place in India in 2022 comes as a delightful silver lining,” said Praful Patel, AIFF president and chairman, Local Organising Committee (LOC).
The Women’s U-17 World Cup was originally scheduled to be held in India November this year.
It was later postponed to February-March next year due to the coronavirus crisis.
Club WC in Feb. 2021
Qatar will host the coronavirus-delayed Club World Cup, an important test event ahead of the 2022 World Cup, in February, FIFA said.
The tournament, scheduled to be held in Doha in December, will now be staged from February 1 to 11, 2021.
