UEFA Cancels Men's And Women's U-19 EURO

Illustration - The Spanish national team celebrates after winning the final of the UEFA Euro U-19 tournament against Portugal in Yerevan, Armenia (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - European soccer body UEFA decided on Tuesday to cancel the 2021 edition of the EURO U-19 championship for both the men's and women's categories.

It is believed that the impact of a derivative of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as travel bans from various countries, is believed to make it difficult for the under-19 age group to take place.

"Today the UEFA Executive Committee decided to cancel EURO U-19 Men and Women 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the sustainability of the competition," said a statement on the official UEFA website quoted by Antara, Wednesday.

"The UEFA Executive Committee noted that given the many travel restrictions imposed by the governments of a number of countries, the possibility of teams traveling and organizing mini tournaments will be extremely difficult," read the same statement.

The #UEFAExCo today canceled the 2021 UEFA Women's and Men's Under-19 Championships due to the Covid-19 pandemic and its effects on the staging of competitions.

- UEFA (@UEFA) February 23, 2021

The decision has made the men's and women's EURO U-19 which is held annually absent for two consecutive editions, after the 2020 edition was also canceled due to the pandemic.

EURO U-19 2021 should be held in Romania from 30 June to 13 July for the men's category and 21 July to 2 August in Belarus for girls.

In addition to announcing the cancellation of the Men's and Women's U-19 2021 EURO, UEFA also announced the transfer of the location for the 2020/21 Futsal Champions League final from Belarus to Croatia.

UEFA has so far not announced the fate of EURO 2020, which has been postponed to this year in 12 host cities in Europe.