Women’s U-17 World Cup in spot of bother

After FIFA’s decision to postpone event, incomplete qualifiers could end up posing new set of complications for AIFF and Local Organising Committee 
For representational purposes (File Photo | AFP)
For representational purposes (File Photo | AFP)

CHENNAI: It was something that people working behind the scenes were counting down to. But after FIFA’s decision to postpone Women’s U-17 World Cup, which was to be held in India in November, they will have to abort that. On one hand, this gives local organisers more time to prepare. On the other, it presents them a fresh set of potential implications to deal with, logistical and financial.The decision of postponement was taken late on Friday night, at a meeting of FIFA’s dedicated COVID-19 working group. Even the U-20 Women’s World Cup — in Panama and Costa Rica, in August and September — was pushed back.

This was only a matter of time, as the outbreak had severely affected U-17 World Cup’s qualifying process. Only the Asian qualifier has been completed (India, Japan and North Korea made the cut). The African qualifier has started, but the final leg (in May) now looks unlikely. CONCACAF (North American) qualifiers were scheduled for April, but they have been postponed indefinitely. That’s the same for U-17 UEFA Women’s Championships (slated for May). The South American qualifiers — initially this month — has been deferred to late August, just a couple of months before the main event.

However, the most curious case is that of Oceania qualifiers, originally scheduled for last September. A mass measles outbreak in the region had pushed it to this April. Now, those plans have been scuppered again.Tournament director Roma Khanna confirmed to this newspaper that the qualification of teams has been their biggest headache. “Considering the crisis that the world is in, all scenarios were being looked at. As we’ve said before, the biggest challenge is qualification, as most of the qualifiers had to be postponed.”Postponing the U-17 World Cup will also be a logistical challenge for organisers and All India Football Federation (AIFF). Hotels and flights will have to be re-booked.

AIFF will also have to deal with potential disruptions in league football, as three of the five venues — Kalinga Stadium (Bhubaneswar), Salt Lake Stadium (Kolkata) and Indira Gandhi Stadium (Guwahati) — will host ISL matches. Anything other than holding the tournament during June to November 2021 will disturb the league season for nearly 20 days. However, it is possible that ISL could work around this problem by tweaking its schedule.

Postponement will also have financial implications, though the magnitude will only be known over the coming days. “We will have to finalise the dates and the calendar before anything else can be looked at. The financial aspect will also be looked at. LOC and FIFA remain committed to hosting a successful U-17 Women’s World Cup.”

One significant question for FIFA is whether the age restrictions for the tournament will be relaxed if it ends up being held in 2021. Current rules allow players born on or before January 1, 2003. If this is retained, it would effectively make the event an U-18 World Cup.However, changing the eligibility criteria will severely affect preparations for teams like India, who’ve been working with the same group of players for a couple of years. A clue about how FIFA may proceed in this regard was found in their initial communication. They decided to keep the eligibility criteria the same for next year’s Olympics (players born in and after 1997, with three additional players).

 ‘Highest regard for public health’
“We and AIFF are supportive of FIFA’s decision,” said a statement issued by the Local Organising Committee (LOC). “This has been made with the highest regard for public health, and keeps the best interests of everyone in mind. We were looking forward to hosting it. But we are mindful of all those impacted by our decisions.”

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