FIFA president Gianni Infantino has revealed plans to recommend proposals to postpone the FIFA Confederation Cup and the Club World Cup to a different Calendar in view of the Corona Virus outbreak.

Infantino said in a statement that FIFA has received the requests from CONMEBOL and UEFA to postpone respectively the 2020 Copa América and the UEFA EURO 2020 to the June/July of 2021 in a slot previously reserved for the FIFA Confederations Cup and now currently reserved for the new FIFA Club World Cup. This would mean AFCON schedule will also be under discussion as it will fall in 2021.

He has since called for a Bureau of the Council conference call today to see how such matters can be addressed collectively.

“The world is facing an unprecedented health challenge and clearly a global and collective response is needed. Cooperation, mutual respect and understanding must be the guiding principles for all decision makers to have in mind at this crucial moment in time,” said Infantino

“Particularly in football, finding appropriate and fair solutions at global level is imperative. This requires unity, solidarity and a shared sense of responsibility and we need to think of all those around the world potentially impacted by our decisions.

“With this in mind, FIFA has constantly been discussing with confederations, member associations and other stakeholders from around the world, also bearing in mind that firstly health and secondly sporting solidarity are paramount considerations for the world of football.”

The FIFA boss added, “It is important at this stage to remember that the main purpose of FIFA’s competitions, including those mentioned above, is to ensure both global football development and worldwide solidarity programmes and that the vast majority of member associations around the world depend on FIFA’s solidarity programmes for their activities for both women’s and men’s football to take place. It is therefore essential that their interests, both sporting and economic, are protected as well.”

Infantino also revealed that FIFA will consult with professional football stakeholders to be able to shortly announce any necessary amendments or temporary dispensations to the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players’ to protect contracts for both players and clubs.

Kelvin Trudeau Musako

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