New Delhi: The FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, scheduled to be played in November in India, has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
FIFA has announced that it took the decision after FIFA-Confederations working group, which was recently established by the Bureau of the FIFA Council to address the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, recommended for the same.
“The working group decided to postpone the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup Panama/Costa Rica 2020 – originally scheduled for August/September 2020 – and the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup India 2020 – originally scheduled for November 2020.”
In a statement, FIFA further said that now new dates will be identified.
The U-17 World Cup was scheduled to be held at five venues in India from November 2-21.
“FIFA also reiterates that health must always be the first priority and the main criteria in any decision-making process, especially in these challenging times,” the sport’s governing body further said.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has also admitted “no one around the world knows” when the football will resume amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“Football is not the most important thing, health comes first and should remain our priority until this sickness has been defeated,” Infantino said recently. “The world is facing new challenges and we have to stay together and work as a team. This is the lesson that football can give: to work as a team.”
“Tomorrow we all would like to see football again, but we don’t know when we will be able to resume playing and no one around the world knows when we will be able to play like before,” he added.
Sporting activities across the world have come to a grinding halt due to COVID-19 pandemic which has claimed more than 58,000 lives so far.
IANS