FIFA okays further changes to the international match calendars due to COVID-19 pandemic!

In addition to the previous decisions by the FIFA Council, the Bureau of the Council has unanimously approved a set of further changes to the men’s and women’s international match calendars in response to the global disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which persists in most parts of the world.

These changes follow a thorough consultation process with the confederations and football stakeholders. This process resulted in proposals via the FIFA-Confederations COVID-19 Working Group that maintain the previously agreed principle that a tailor-made and flexible approach between confederations is required, reflecting the varied circumstances of the pandemic across the world. The main changes are the following:

Men’s international match calendar

• to replace the window from August 31 to September 8, 2020 with a window from January 24 to February 1, 2022 for all confederations except UEFA. This means that there is no mandatory release of players for member associations from these confederations in September 2020;
• to include the new period of January 2022 for the CAF Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), with the exact dates to be determined at a later stage; and
• to include the new dates of the Concacaf Gold Cup 2021 (preliminary rounds from July 2 to 6, 2021 and final tournament from July 10, to August 1, 2021) with a mandatory release starting on June 28, 2021.

Women’s international match calendar

• to replace the dates for the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament, originally scheduled from July 22 to August 7, 2020, with new dates of July 21 to August 6, 2021;
• to finalise the dates of the originally scheduled Type I window in June-July 2021 as June 7 to 15, 2021;
• to cancel the existing window of September 14 to 22, 2020 for all confederations except UEFA;
• to include alongside the existing Type I window from September 13 to 21, 2021, an alternative option of a Type III window from September 13 to 25, 2021 for all confederations except UEFA;
• to finalise the dates of the existing Type II window in June-July 2021 as June 7 to 16, 2021 for all confederations except UEFA;
• to remove the current blocked period for the Women’s AFCON from November 23 to December 20, 2020; and
• to include UEFA in the blocked period from July 4 to August 7, 2022.

The FIFA-Confederations COVID-19 Working Group will continue to monitor the situation in each confederation and if required make additional proposals to the FIFA Council.

The latest version of both the Men’s and Women’s International Match Calendars are now available on FIFA.com.