4 June 2020 – The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) has announced the revised fixtures of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2021. The original dates for the World Cup were 2 to 21 November 2020.
However, the tournament had to be postponed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced all sports events to be held closed-doors or delayed worldwide to comply with social-distancing norms. India is the fourth worst-hit country by the virus according to the latest stats.
The tournament will now take place from 17 February to 7 March next year.
U-17 Women’s World Cup- Qualification
The South African U17 Women’s National Team, Bantwana, was due to face Morocco in the final round of qualifiers but was cancelled in light of growing concerns and evolving nature of Covid-19 around the world.
Bantwana had turned the tables on Zambia – coming back from a 2-0 first leg away defeat, to win 3-0 in the second leg for a 3-2 aggregate.
Spain are the defending Champions of the U-17 Women’s World Cup.
The U-17 Women’s World Cup 2021 will be the second FIFA-event to be hosted by India after the major success of the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017 which broke several attendance and viewership records for youth world cups.
France was the only other nation beside India to bid for the hosting rights of the U-17 Women’s World Cup which was eventually won by India. India (as hosts) have already qualified for the showpiece event followed by Japan and North Korea filling the two Asian Football Confederation (AFC) slots.
New Zealand are the fourth team to qualify for the U-17 Women’s World Cup by winning the sole Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) slot. Three more teams will join from each of the remaining four confederations to make it sixteen in the final event in India. The confederations are yet to finalize their representatives are Confederation of African Football (CAF), Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) and South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL).
North Korea are the most successful U-17 Women’s National Team in the World Cup with two titles. Spain are the defending champions of the title after winning the 2018 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Uruguay.
U-17 Women’s World Cup Venues
The venues for the 2021 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in India are the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium, Guwahati; Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan, Kolkata; Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneshwar; TransStadia Stadium, Ahmedabad and DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai. Three of the stadiums belong to Indian Super League sides NorthEast United FC, ATK and Odisha FC which may halt the cash-rich tournament to accommodate the World Cup.
India will play their group games of the U-17 Women’s World Cup at Guwahati as by convention the hosts are marked as the A1 side and Team A1 has been slated to play all their games at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati. The final will be played on 7th March at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.
India are expected to play their group-stage games of the U-17 Women’s World Cup at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati.
U-17 Women’s World Cup- the fixtures
Group-Stage
17 Feb – A3 vs A4 – IGIA Stadium, Guwahati
17 Feb – A1 vs A2 – IGIA Stadium, Guwahati
17 Feb – B3 vs B4 – Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneshwar
17 Feb – B1 vs B2 – Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneshwar
18 Feb – C3 vs C4 – VYBK Stadium, Kolkata
18 Feb – C1 vs C2 – VYBK Stadium, Kolkata
18 Feb – D3 vs D2 – TransStadia Stadium, Ahmedabad
18 Feb – D1 vs D2 – TransStadia Stadium, Ahmedabad
20 Feb – A4 vs A2 – IGIA Stadium, Guwahati
20 Feb – A1 vs A3 – IGIA Stadium, Guwahati
20 Feb – B4 vs B2 – Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneshwar
20 Feb – B1 vs B3 – Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneshwar
21 Feb – C4 vs C2 – VYBK Stadium, Kolkata
21 Feb – C1 vs C3 – VYBK Stadium, Kolkata
21 Feb – D4 vs D2 – TransStadia Stadium, Ahmedabad
21 Feh – D1 vs D3 – TransStadia Stadium, Ahmedabad
23 Feb – A4 vs A1 – IGIA Stadium, Guwahati
23 Feb – B2 vs B3 – IGIA Stadium, Guwahati
23 Feb – A2 vs A3 – Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneshwar
23 Feb – B4 vs B1 – Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneshwar
24 Feb – C4 vs C1 – VYBK Stadium, Kolkata
24 Feb – D2 vs D3 – VYBK Stadium, Kolkata
24 Feb – C2 vs C3 – TransStadia Stadium, Ahmedbad
24 Feb – D4 vs D1 – TransStadia Stadium, Ahmedabad
Knock-Out Stage
27 Feb – QF1 : 1D vs 2C – TransStadia Stadium, Ahmedabad
27 Feb – QF2 : 1B vs 2A – DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai
28 Feb – QF 3 : 1A vs 2B – Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneshwar
28 Feb – QF 4 : 1C vs 2D – VYBK Stadium, Kolkata
3 Mar – SF 1 : WQF3 vs WQF4 – DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai
3 Mar – SF 2 : WQF2 vs WQF1 – Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneshwar
7 Mar – 3PP : LSF1 vs LSF2 – DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai
7 Mar – Final : WSF1 vs WSF2 – DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai