New Delhi: The FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup India 2020, slated for November, was postponed by FIFA, world football's governing body, due to the coronavirus pandemic, on Saturday .
The women's age group showpiece was to be held at five venues in India from November 2-21 but has been postponed like various other events hit by the uncertainty around the dangerous pandemic.
The decision was taken by the FIFA-Confederations working group which was recently established by the Bureau of the FIFA Council to address the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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."
"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.
"The All India Football Federation and Local Organising Committee are supportive of the decision by FIFA to postpone FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup. We agree that this has been made with the highest regard for public health, and the participating teams, host cities, staff and visiting fans, and keeps the best interests of everyone in mind.
"We were, of course, looking forward to hosting the Tournament in November this year, but at the same time, we are mindful of all those around the world and in our country potentially impacted by our decisions. For us at the moment, the primary concern is the health and wellbeing of every stakeholder involved in the Tournament. 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," AIFF said in a statement.
"The LOC and AIFF will work with FIFA to determine the most suitable dates for the Tournament. We look forward to hosting a successful Tournament in the near future," the statement further read.
Over 50,000 deaths have been caused by the deadly outbreak so far.
(With PTI inputs)
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