MUMBAI: The spotlight is well and truly back on, and not in a positive way, on the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup, which India is scheduled to host in early 2021.
All India Football Federation (AIFF) general secretary Kushal Das, told PTI that there is “no official update” on the matter yet. But when asked specifically whether there is a possibility of the postponement of the tournament in view of the prevailing situation, he said, “It can be (postponed).”
With the health crisis still showing no signs of abating and with the qualifying tournaments yet to be held in Africa, North and Central America and South America, Das’s looks to be a BEST CASE scenario proposition that is higher on hope than practical reality. Why? Because the 2021 global sports calendar, choc-a-bloc as it is, will offer ZERO chance to accommodate the tournament outside the window FIFA has currently slotted for it, SportzPower is convinced.
For the record, it was on 12 May that FIFA last announced that the rescheduled tournament would be held between 17 February and 7 March 2021, subject to further monitoring (emphasis ours).
It is also worth taking on board comments from AIFF president Praful Patel made on Monday, wherein he sounded a note of caution while discussing the upcoming Indian football season 2020-21, which is scheduled to kick off from next month. The AIFF chief noted that with many states still battling the COVID-19 virus, there was always a doubt whether everything would go according to plan.
Coming back to the Under-17 Women’s World Cup, the AIFF had planned to start the national camp early next month but head coach Thomas Dennerby is still at his home in Sweden after leaving India in March. The players have also been without outdoor training since returning to their respective homes since the first announcement of lockdown due to pandemic in March.
All speculations could well have been laid to rest had there been any official word on the outcome of the FIFA council meeting of September 17, where it was to have discussed the upcoming events, including the U-17 Women’s World Cup. But no luck there either, so the uncertainty continues.
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