European football's governing body (UEFA) has decided to cancel last season's postponed Women's U17 European Championship and further postpone the U19 Men’s European Championships. There will be no European Championship tournaments held this calendar year either.
In a statement, UEFA highlighted that the coronavirus pandemic had posed significant logistical, health and economic difficulties for associations of host and participant countries, and that the decision had also taken into account the protection of players' health and a reduction of the risk of further virus outbreaks.
The Hungarian national team would have contested the Elite round of the now-cancelled Women's U17 European Championship, while Hungary would have hosted an Elite-round mini-tournament in Szombathely in September. The Men’s U19 European Championship will be played in two stages following October Elite round, the first in November and the second in March next year. Hungary are no longer in that competition after failing to progress from last autumn's first round.
UEFA will also postpone the 2020-2021 season's youth-level European Championship qualifiers originally planned for autumn and reduce the overall number of European Championship qualifiers. All of this means that none of our youth national teams will play a competitive match this year.
Planned schedule for the youth level European championship qualifiers during the 2020/21 season:
Women's U17:
- Date of European Championship qualifiers: March 2021 (13 mini-tournaments)
- No Elite round
- The 13 group winners and 2 seeded teams will take part in the European Championships in Cyprus in May
Women's U19:
- Date of European Championship qualifiers: February 2021 (12 mini-tournaments)
- The Elite round to replaced by play-offs
- Play-offs (involving 14 teams): April 2021
- Finals tournament in July 2021 (to be hosted by Belarus)
Men's U19:
- Date of European Championship qualifiers: March 2021 (13 mini-tournaments)
- The Elite round to be replaced by play-offs
- Play-offs (involving 14 teams) in May 2021
- Finals tournament in July 2021 (to be hosted by Romania)
As already known, next year's Men's Under-21 European Championship will be organised jointly by Hungary and Slovenia. Group matches will be played from 24th-31st March, while the play-offs will take place from 31st May to 6th June. In March, Budapest's Bozsik Stadion and Székesfehérvár will host the Group A matches while the Group C matches will be held in Szombathely and Gyirmót. In the knockout stages, the Bozsik Stadion will host a quarter-final tie and Székesfehérvár will host a quarter-final and a semi-final match. The Hungarian U21 national team led by Zoltán Gera will definitely participate in the tournament thanks to their status as joint-hosts.
