Fifa Club World Cup moved to February because of Covid-19 restrictions

Fifa has moved this season’s Club World Cup from December to February 2021 because of Covid-19 restrictions.

European representatives Bayern Munich won the Champions League in August, but the pandemic affected the conclusion of other continental championship.

The tournament will still be played in Qatar, from 1-11 February.

“The Club World Cup Qatar 2020 has been subject to the disruptive effect on the confederations’ continental club championships,” said Fifa.

“The introduction of strict return-to-play protocols have facilitated a successful resumption of continental club championships, the last of which is now scheduled to conclude by the end of January 2021.”

Liverpool won the last Club World Cup in December 2019.

FA ‘fully supportive’ of Fifa’s decision

Fifa also announced that its women’s Under-20 and Under-17 2020 World Cups, initially rescheduled for 2021, have been cancelled and will not take place.

The respective host nations for the 2020 tournaments will now host the next scheduled finals in 2022 instead – Costa Rica staging the Under-20 World Cup, and India the Under-17 one.

England qualified for the Under-17 Women’s World Cup as one of the three European teams with the highest coefficient ranking.

The Football Association's head of women's technical development Kay Cossington said the decision to cancel the two tournaments was disappointing, but that England's governing body were "fully supportive of the difficult decision".

We were all looking forward to the tournament in India next year, but the health and wellbeing of competitors is, quite rightly, the primary concern for Fifa and all the national associations who were due to compete,” said Cossington.

Sue Campbell, the FA’s director of women’s football, echoed those comments, adding that the governing body “remain optimistic and hopeful of the chance to celebrate our sport on the international stage once again”.

“Sport is a tremendously important force for good, particularly during these challenging times, but it is right that Fifa has today put the safety and health of competing nations and their supporters at the heart of their decision to cancel the Youth World Cups,” added Campbell.

Original article 17.11.20 on the BBC Sport website.

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