China News Service, Beijing, April 4th, Beijing time, FIFA issued a statement saying that it is recommended to postpone the global men ’s and women ’s football matches originally scheduled for June. The specific schedule needs to be carefully discussed and obtained. At the same time, the Tokyo Olympics men ’s The full age can be relaxed to 24 years old.
FIFA has previously stated that when the safety conditions of all parties meet the requirements of the competition, the participating associations can still apply for the competition in June after approval. However, in view of the spread of the epidemic around the world, FIFA had to propose to postpone all the events originally scheduled for June. The FIFA Task Force during the epidemic said it would determine a specific schedule after the situation stabilized.
Football matches originally scheduled for June include the 2022 Qatar Men ’s World Cup qualifiers, the Tokyo Olympics women ’s qualifiers and a series of warm-up matches. This includes the two World Cup Asian qualifiers between the Chinese men ’s football team and the Philippines and Syria, as well as the Olympic women ’s Asian qualifier play-offs between the Chinese women ’s football team and the South Korean team. It currently appears that the Chinese men's and women's football teams will be postponed.
Affected by the new coronary pneumonia epidemic, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will be postponed to 2021. Regarding the issue of the extension of the Tokyo Olympics, FIFA stated that the qualifications for the Tokyo Olympics men ’s football competition will remain unchanged, and the age limit of the participating players will be adjusted from the original 23 years to 24 years, that is, those born on or after January 1, 1997 Athletes participate, and each team allows up to 3 overage players.
According to previous regulations, the Tokyo Olympic men ’s football competition consists of U23 2020-age players. If the rules are not adjusted, 23-year-old players who could have participated this year will not be eligible to stand in the Olympic arena next year. Therefore, FIFA adjusted the competition standards to the U24 age group, so as to ensure that players will not be disqualified due to the postponement of the Olympic Games.
Regrettably, in the 2020 Asian AFC U23 Championships and the Tokyo Olympics men ’s Asian qualifiers held in January this year, the Chinese U23 Olympic team lost all three games, ranking the bottom of the group, and thus missed the Tokyo Olympics. (Finish)