Junior footballers around the world, who were eager to further establish their careers on the international stage, have been greeted with disappointing news heading into 2021.
The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) has announced the cancellation of the 2021 FIFA under-17 and under-20 World Cups. According to CONCACAF, both events are now off the international calendar due to the prevailing threat of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Due to the ongoing impact of COVID-19 on the football calendar and continued concerns over international travel, FIFA recently announced the cancellation of the FIFA U-17 and U-20 Men’s World Cups, scheduled to take place in Peru and Indonesia in 2021, respectively,” the body said in a recent statement.
The scrapping of those events has a direct impact on the opportunities given to local and regional junior players since Concacaf has made the decision to abandon the qualifying tournaments for the two world junior events.
“… Given FIFA’s decision, the continued uncertainty regarding the impact of COVID-19 in our own region and concerns regarding youth teams traveling in this environment, Concacaf has come to the difficult decision to cancel the 2020 Concacaf Under-17 Qualifiers and Championship, and the 2020 Concacaf Under-20 Championship [respectively],” the statement added.
Football in Guyana has been severely hit by the ongoing pandemic, stalling competitive action for most of 2020. However, the Guyana Football Federation (GFF), has collaborated with the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport to stage the ‘Bounce Back’ mini-tournament.
Following the successful staging of that tournament, GFF has announced plans to host more tournaments in 2021 pending approval from the COVID-19 task force.
