FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup 2021 revised fixtures announced

The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) announced the revised fixtures of the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup 2021 on Tuesday. 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.

U-17 Women's World Cup- Qualification

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