The Union of European Football Association(UEFA) has canceled both the male and female category of the Under-19 European Championships due to the impact of the ravaging global pandemic.
Not up to a week, the European football body cancelled the 2020/21 UEFA Champions League at the junior level, they made this decision.
The male category of the European tournament was set to hold on June 30, while the female category was slated for July 21 2021.
The male tourney is set to be hosted in Nothern Ireland
“The UEFA Executive Committee has decided to cancel the remainder of 2019/20 UEFA Under-19 European Championship – the final tournament of which was due to be hosted in Northern Ireland – due to the current unresolved epidemiological situation in Europe and resulting traveling difficulties.” in a statement by UEFA.
The tournament ceased to hold due to the restrictions imposed by the government at the place of the hosting countries
“In making these decisions, the UEFA Executive Committee took note that, with the government restrictions currently in place the traveling of teams and staging of mini-tournaments would prove very difficult,” UEFA said
The European U-19 Championship was a yardstick to book a ticket to the FIFA U-20 World Cup which is set to be hosted in Indonesia from May 20- June 12. In the statement, the European football body booked five slots for European teams
“Since the 2019/20 edition of the UEFA Under-19 European Championship was a qualifier to the FIFA U-20 World Cup – scheduled to take place in Indonesia from 20 May to 12 June – it was decided that the five slots reserved for European teams in the competition be allocated to the teams occupying the top five positions in the UEFA qualifying round coefficient ranking for the 2019/20 season.” the statement read in UEFA.com
Sequel to the above, England, France, Netherlands Italy and Portugal are set to be nominated as Europe’s representatives to feature in Under-20 FIFA World Cup
“Consequently, the teams of England, France, Italy, Netherlands, and Portugal (in alphabetical order) will be the European representatives nominated to participate in the FIFA U-20 World Cup.”
It was not that the members of the body were consulted and they have supported the decision.
The UEFA member associations were consulted and supported the decision. Although unfortunately, no youth competitions can take place in the current season, the health and safety of young athletes must be prioritized in the current circumstances,” they accentuated.
