Fifa Cancels Next Year's U-17 Women's World Cup in India Due to Covid-19

Business Standard Fifa cancels next year's U-17 women's World Cup in India due to Covid-19

Fifa cancelled both women's U-17 World Cup and U-20 World Cup which were scheduled to be held in India and Costa Rica respectively but handed both the countries the hosting rights of the 2022 editions.

The Women's Under-17 World Cup in India, which was postponed to 2021 due to Covid-19 pandemic, was on Tuesday cancelled by the world governing body Fifa and the country was handed the hosting rights of the 2022 edition.

The decision was taken by the Bureau of the Fifa Council which took stock of the current global Covid-19 pandemic and its continuing impact on football.

The Fifa cancelled both the women's U-17 World Cup and U-20 World Cup which were scheduled to be held in India and Costa Rica respectively but handed both the countries the hosting rights of the 2022 editions. "... with the inability to further postpone these tournaments, the FifaConfederations 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. "... following further consultation between Fifa and the respective host member associations regarding the 2022 editions of the tournaments, the Bureau of the Council has approved Costa Rica as host of the Fifa U-20 Women's World Cup 2022 and India as host of the Fifa U-17 Women's World Cup 2022 respectively."

Originally scheduled to be held in five venues in India from November 2 to 21, the Fifa U-17 World Cup was pushed to February 17-March 7 next year due to the pandemic, which has played havoc with sporting calendars worldwide.

Due to the global health crisis, the confederations of Africa (CAF), North and Central America (CONCACAF) and South America (CONMEBOL) are yet to hold their qualifying tournaments.