Team Netherlands celebrate after winning the UEFA Women's EURO 2017 soccer tournament final match against Denmark in Enschede, the Netherlands, August 6, 2017. The Netherlands won 4-2 and claimed the title. (Xinhua/Ye Pingfan)
Women's European Soccer Championship, scheduled to be held in England next year, will be pushed back for one year to July 2022.
PARIS, April 23 (Xinhua) -- UEFA has confirmed on Thursday that the 2021 Women's European Championship, scheduled to be held in England next year, will be put back for one to July 2022.
The decision came after a UEFA Executive Committee video conference which was held earlier in the day.
The intention of the postponement was to avoid a clash with other major sports events like the Tokyo Olympic Games and the UEFA Men's Championship, which will all initially take place this summer but were forced to be rescheduled for next year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We have carefully considered all options, with our commitment to the growth of women's football at the forefront of our thinking," UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said in a statement.
"By moving UEFA Women's EURO to the following year, we are ensuring that our flagship women's competition will be the only major football tournament of the summer, providing it with the spotlight it deserves," Ceferin added.
The tournament will use the original 10 stadiums in England as the UEFA announced. The opening match will be held at Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium on July 6, while Wembley host the final on July 31.
UEFA's chief of women's football, Nadine Kessler, said: "The core question guiding us together with the English FA was: What is best for women's football?"
"We firmly believe that moving to 2022 is in the best interests of the tournament, the players, the fans, women's football partners and everybody involved in all areas and at all levels of the game."
"UEFA Women's EURO is Europe's biggest women's sport event. It is also among the biggest sports events in the world, and therefore needs and deserves a platform of its own."
The European football's governing body on Thursday also announced to release payments worth 70 million euros to 676 clubs from all 55 UEFA member associations for their contribution to UEFA national team competitions.
Such payments were originally scheduled to be released on completion of the European Qualifiers play-offs, but UEFA decided to pay them in advance given the current financial difficulties many clubs are facing across Europe.
"European clubs are an integral part of the success of our national team competitions. As a result, a share of our national team competition revenues is distributed to the clubs which release players for those matches," Ceferin said.
"In these difficult times when many clubs are facing financial issues, especially with their cash flow, it was our duty to make sure that clubs receive these payments as quickly as possible." ■
