New Delhi [India]: The South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) on Monday decided to postpone SAFF Championship to 2021 in the wake of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The football championship was slated to take place in Bangladesh in September this year. However, due to the threat posed by the deadly virus, the member associations' General Secretaries made the decision to postpone the event.
"The South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) held a meeting at 15:00hrs (BST) today via Zoom with its Member Association's General Secretaries regarding SAFF Competitions this year. The competitions are, SAFF Championship, SAFF U-15 Championship, SAFF U-15 Women's Championship and SAFF U-18 Women's Championship," SAFF said in a Facebook post.
"Anwarul Huq, General Secretary of SAFF, welcomed everyone and thanked them for their time. The respective General Secretaries gave their valuable insights regarding COVID-19 challenges and opinions regarding the competitions. Taking everything into account SAFF has decided to postpone SAFF Championship to 2021," it further said.
Regarding the other tournaments, such as the U-15 Championship, U-15 Women's Championship & U-18 Women's Championship, a decision will only be taken in the next review meeting which has been scheduled for September this year.
"In regards to the Youth Competitions it is been postponed till the next review meeting in early September when after reassessing the COVID-19 scenario a decision will be taken," the statement added.
India last won the SAFF Championship in 2015 and then lost to the Maldives in the final in the next edition that took place in Bangladesh two years ago. India are also the defending champions of the U-18 and U-15 Men's tournaments and the senior Women's and U-15 Women's Championship.
