By Andrew Warshaw
March 1 – In a move that evokes memories of the 1986 World Cup being switched, FIFA has been forced to make a late change for next year’s under-17 women’s tournament after hosts Costa Rica failed to meet certain deadlines.
FIFA’s decision to scrap plans to take the event, staged every two years, to central America was due to “a number of unforeseen circumstances leading to heavy stadium construction delays.”
Costa Rica won hosting rights in March 2011 ahead of Ghana, Turkey and Uzbekistan and the 16-nation tournament is now likely to be scheduled in September 2014.
FIFA said it would evaluate potential hosts before a decision is taken at its executive committee meeting on March 20-21 in Zurich.
The cancellation is a blow not only to Costa Rica but to the Concacaf confederation which is trying to increase its profile on the world stage.
Only once before has a host nation been changed for the senior men’s World Cup with relatively short notice. Four years before it was due to stage the 1986 event, Colombia was forced to withdraw and Mexico was given the nod over Canada and the United States.
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