By David Gold
October 2 – Ottawa will not host the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup in 2014 as its new Lansdowne Park stadium may not be ready in time.
The Under-20 World Cup will help Canada prepare and test out facilities and organisation ahead of the senior Women’s World Cup they are hosting in 2015.
Ottawa, along with Edmonton, Moncton, Montreal, Vancouver and Winnipeg, is hosting matches at that World Cup.
Four host cities of the 2014 event will be announced by the end of this year and they will come from the five cities still in the running.
Canada will become the first country to host the Under-20 World Cup twice, after staging the 2002 event – also the first edition of the tournament.
The city of Ottawa has announced in a statement that it will pool its resources to gain the benefits of staging matches at the more lucrative senior World Cup.
Ottawa also hosted matches at the Men’s Under-20 World Cup tournament in 2007, which reportedly led to $8 million (£5 million/€6 million) in economic benefits for the city.
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