Indonesia was stripped of hosting rights only eight weeks
before the start of the tournament amid political turmoil over Israel’s
participation.
A new host will be announced within days, Infantino said at
a press conference at the headquarters of South American soccer body CONMEBOL.
“We all know soccer in Argentina and it is a country that
surely can host a competition of this level,” Infantino said. “With the
tradition of soccer in Argentina there are very good possibilities.”
Earlier, he had received an offer from Argentina’s soccer
association to step in as host. Argentina’s U-20 team failed to qualify for the
tournament.
Infantino said the decision “will be made within two or
three days” and it will be evaluated by all presidents of soccer confederations.
FIFA said Indonesia was removed from staging the 24-team
tournament scheduled to start on May 20 “due to the current circumstances,”
without specifying details. Indonesia is the world’s most populous
Muslim-majority nation and does not have formal diplomatic relations with
Israel. -AP
0 comments:
Post a Comment