The All India Football Federation (AIFF) and the Local Organising Committee of the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup have supported FIFA’s decision to postpone the marquee event in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
FIFA-Confederations working group, which was recently established by the Bureau of the FIFA Council to address the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, took the decision on Saturday considering the deteriorating situation across the world caused by the novel coronavirus.
In a statement, AIFF said they and LOC agree that the decision by FIFA has been made with the highest regard for public health, and the participating teams, host cities, staff and visiting fans, and keeps the best interest of everyone in mind.
Right now, the primary concern is the public health and the well-being of every individual. We shall work with FIFA to determine the most suitable dates and look forward to hosting a successful Tournament in the near future! #U17WWC pic.twitter.com/zhITEF4Ufq
— Roma Khanna (@RomaKhanna7) April 4, 2020
“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,” the statement read.
“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.
“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 added.
Though the U-17 Women’s World Cup, which was due to happen between November 2 and 21, was eight months away, most of the qualifying competitions leading up to the tournament were yet to take place.
Given the drastic circumstances where more than 11 lakh people have been affected and over 58,000 have lost their lives worldwide due to COVID-19, FIFA deemed it impossible to allow the qualifiers to go ahead.
The working group decided to “postpone the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup Panama/Costa Rica 2020 – originally scheduled for August/September 2020″.