FIFA cancels U-17 Women World Cup in India

On November 17, 2020, FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) cancelled the Women Under-17 world cup due to COVID-19 pandemic. It has been postponed to 2021. The 2020 FIFA Women Under-17 World Cup was to be held in India.

Highlights

• Both Under-17 and Under-20 women’s World cup were to be held in India. This has been cancelled and the country has been awarded to host the 2022 cup.
• FIFA announced that Costa Rica will host the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup 2022 and India will host FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup 2022.

India in FIFA

• The 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup was hosted by India. It is a biennial international football tournament. It was the first time, India hosted the FIFA tournament.
• Both the men and women football teams of India are yet to participate in FIFA. This is because, the teams did not qualify. However, Indian Football teams have participated in Asian and Olympics matches.
• For the first time, the under-17 football team of India participated in FIFA in 2017. This was the first time a team from India won eligibility and actually participated in FIFA.

India’s ranking in FIFA

The FIFA ranking was released in June 2020. India retained its 108^th position for the year 2020. Around 211 members are associated with FIFA.

FIFA

The member countries of FIFA are grouped under six confederations. India belongs to Asian Football Confederation. FIFA was founded in 1904 to oversee competition among associations of Denmark, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Spain and Switzerland. The headquarters of FIFA is located in Zurich.

FIFA is an association established under the law of Switzerland.

Anthem of FIFA

The Anthem of FIFA was composed by German composer Franz Lambert in 1994. The anthem is played at the beginning of every FIFA sanctioned matches and tournaments.

Month: Current Affairs - November, 2020