The 2020 U17 Women's World Cup, set to be hosted by India, will take place from 17th February 2021 to 7th March 2021, FIFA has confirmed.
The global event was originally scheduled to be held from 2nd to 21st November 2020 before uncertainties raised by the ongoing Coronavirus crisis necessitated a postponement. The qualifiers for the same was not completed in most of the continental confederations and with the game coming to a half across the globe, the event had to be pushed back.
The tentative dates were suggested during a meeting of the FIFA Council on April 30, 2020. The decision was finalised on May 11, Monday.
FIFA has also decided that the eligibility criteria for the U17 Women's World Cup will be kept the same as planned for the original dates of the event and will not be changed. It will as a relief for many players who have been preparing for the tournament but would've been overage as per the new schedule.
In effect, players born on or after 1st January 2003 and on or before 31st December 2005 are eligible to take part in the tournament.
The rest of the rules and regulations, including slot allocations, will also remain the same.
India was appointed as the host by the FIFA Council meeting at Miami on 15 March 2019. The country had also successfully hosted the 2017 U17 Men's World Cup.
Five venues have been selected as host cities - the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan in Kolkata, Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati, EKA Arena in Ahmedabad and the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.
Spain are the defending champions, having won the 2018 edition while India will be participating in the edition for the first time ever.