The reason the Nations Cup was cancelled, not postponed

The Oceania Football Confederation tells Football in Oceania why the Nations Cup wasn’t put on hold until next year.

In a statement last week the OFC cancelled the Nations Cup, which was scheduled to be held next summer.

READ MORE: OFC Nations Cup cancelled

“We want football to return to normal but due to the coronavirus pandemic there are so many issues posed. Our Member Associations are facing challenging operating conductions as many of the countries are on lockdown,” Steffi Ah Yuk, OFC Head of Communications tells Football in Oceania.

“Because of the international travel ban this makes the tournament unplayable in the coming months and teams would not be able to adequately prepare.”

With the FIFA World Cup Qualifying stage set to begin this fall, the tournament would be impossible to hold this year.

This caused many to ask, “why not move the tournament until 2021?” That has been done with several other big tournaments, like the UEFA European Championship and the Tokyo Olympics.

The reason for that is also the World Cup qualifiers.

“To move this tournament to 2021 would be difficult as we follow FIFA International Match Calendar and we must ensure all FIFA World Cup qualifiers take place,” Ah Yuk says.

So far nothing has been said on the way the qualifiers will be played. But with Ah Yuk’s comments, it is fair to assume it will be taking quite some time to finish it up.

So there is at least plenty of international football to look forward to.