The postponement of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, scheduled to be played in November in India, will not derail preparations for the tournament as the country is still committed to “delivering a memorable” meet whenever it is possible, Roma Khanna, the tournament director of the Local Organising Committee, said.
FIFA, the world’s governing body for football, on Saturday announced that it took the decision to postpone the tournament 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 the same.
“We were, of course, looking forward to the tournament but everyone understands the current situation and has been supportive,” Khanna told IANS.
The U-17 World Cup was scheduled to be held at five venues in India from November 2-21.
The coronavirus pandemic has virtually stopped all sporting activities in the world with mega tournaments like Euro 2020 and Copa America being pushed back, besides the Tokyo Olympics also meeting the same fate.
“New dates will be identified,” FIFA said in a statement.
The working group includes the FIFA administration and Secretary Generals and top executives from all confederations. It unanimously approved a series of recommendations following its first meeting, which was organised via conference late on Friday.
While the tournament itself is five months away but just a few qualifying events have been held so far and the remaining have not been held due to the global health crisis which has affected more than a million people.