FIFA has rescheduled the 2020 FIFA U17 women’s world cup in India to February 2021 after the tournament was postponed due to coronavirus pandemic.

The competition, which will be India’s first hosting of a female FIFA World Cup, was initially scheduled to be held from the 2nd of November till the 22nd of November 2020.

The postponement was necessary after qualifiers for the tournament across some of the Confederations were suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.

However, after a meeting on the 30th of April, where tentative dates were suggested, a new date of 17th of February to 7th March 2021 was confirmed by FIFA on Monday.

FIFA appointed India as hosts of the 2020 FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup in March 2019, which will be the second FIFA tournament that the Asian country will be hosting after the 2017 FIFA U17 Men’s World Cup.

Furthermore, FIFA has disclosed its intention of keeping the eligibility criteria the same as the original plan without changing. This will come as a relief for players who would have been overaged by the new date.

Hence, players born on or after January 1, 2003, will still be eligible to take part while the same allocation rule will be maintained for the tournament.

The Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan in Kolkata, Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati, EKA Arena in Ahmedabad and the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai are the five centres selected.

It will be the first time India will be participating in a female FIFA event and a second time in a FIFA competition after hosting the 2017 FIFA U17 world cup.

Spain won the last edition of the tournament in 2018 in France after beating Mexico in the final.

Written by: Daniel Ademiju Idowu