OREANDA-NEWS. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has decided to cancel the 2019/20 European Under-19 Championship. The tournament was to be held in Northern Ireland.

“Since the 2019/20 edition of the UEFA Under-19 European Championship was a qualifier to the FIFA U-20 World Cup – scheduled to take place in Indonesia from 20 May to 12 June – it was decided that the five slots reserved for European teams in the competition be allocated to the teams occupying the top five positions in the UEFA qualifying round coefficient ranking for the 2019/20 season,” the message of the organization reads. The top five includes the national teams of England, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Portugal.

Earlier, due to the pandemic, the final stage of the tournament, which was supposed to take place in Northern Ireland, was postponed from July 2020 for an indefinite period. The 2020 World U19 Championship is planned to be hosted by Indonesia.