September 4: Hosts Poland and Argentina kick off the U-20 Women’s World Cup on Saturday, a tournament that had been threatened by UEFA boycott plans.
It is the first time Poland has hosted an Under-20 Women’s World Cup and will be FIFA’s first major tournament since the organization’s president, Gianni Infantino, abandoned plans to sell a stake in the World Cup to private investors.
The 24-team tournament features six European teams, including England, Italy, France, Spain and Portugal, but their participation had briefly appeared in doubt after UEFA said the boycott of all FIFA competitions still applied even after Infantino apologized and wrote in a letter that plans for the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) were off the table.
The European confederation wanted strong guarantees and relented on the boycott last week after claiming FIFA had given more guarantees. However, European officials have remained coy about the nature and precise wording of those guarantees.
UEFA went ahead and filed in US courts demanding discovery, directed at FFE documents, to consider a criminal complaint against Infantino in Switzerland.
The day of the opening of the tournament. Poland won’t be the only tournament debutants in action. Benin make their debut against Mexico, while Tanzania face Brazil for the first time as they look to build on a strong run in the tournament ahead of next year’s Women’s World Cup on home soil. England take on Canada in the fourth match of the day.
North Korea is the reigning champion and the tournament is scheduled to culminate with the final on September 27. It is unclear whether Infantino will attend the final.
Contact the writer of this story, Samindra Kunti, at (email protected)
