Zurich: 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 31 August to 8 September 2020 with a window from 24 January to 1 February 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 CONCACAFGold Cup 2021 (preliminary rounds from 2 to 6 July 2021 and final tournament from 10 July to 1 August 2021) with a mandatory release starting on 28 June 2021. .....

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