UEFA postpones youth national team competitions

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The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has made the decision to postpone several youth national team competitions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

UEFA, in consultation with its 55 member associations, believes that the delay will lessen the pressure on national football associations and allow for youth national team football to be preserved.

The 2019/20 Women’s Under-17 elite round and tournament has been cancelled. In the event that the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup goes ahead next year, the top three European teams will qualify.

The elite round of the 2019/20 Men’s Under-19 tournament will be played in October 2020, with the final tournament to be held in Northern Ireland. The group stage is scheduled for November 2020 and the knockout stage for March 2021.

For 2020/21 competitions, qualifying matches have been reduced and moved to next year.

The Men’s and Women’s Under-17 tournaments are still planned to be held in May of 2021, with elite rounds being cancelled.

Qualifying rounds for the Women’s and Men’s Under-19 tournaments will be played in February and March respectively.

Belarus is set to host the Women’s Under-19 tournament as scheduled in July if next year while Romania will still host the Men’s Under-19 tournament as planned also in July of 2021.

“In order to alleviate the additional operational and financial burden on national associations – caused by hygiene conditions impacting travel and accommodation, as well as testing to safeguard the health of athletes and minimize any potential risk of spreading the infection – the following decisions were made regarding UEFA youth national team competitions,” UEFA said in a statement.

Meanwhile the UEFA Youth League returned yesterday at the Colovray Sports Centre in Nyon, Switzerland.

“The UEFA Youth League – even if no spectators can attend matches this year – is an extremely important event, both for European football and for our town. We’ll be delighted if the local public are able to return to watch the competition under normal conditions in 2021,” Mayor of Nyon, Daniel Rossellat said.

The final will be held on August 25.

Matches are being played without spectators, however fans are able to stream the games for free on UEFA.tv.

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South Canberra FC Breaks the Mold: Equity-Driven Model Earns ‘Club Changer’ Honour

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Image Credit: SCFC

South Canberra Football Club has been named Club Changer of the Month for April, in a recognition that reflects a broader shift across Australian football toward rewarding clubs that are actively dismantling the structural barriers limiting women’s access to the game.

The AFC Women’s Asian Cup has just delivered record crowds and unprecedented visibility for women’s football in Australia, and the Club Changer program is now asking what comes next. Its decision to name South Canberra Football Club as Club Changer of the Month for April signals a clear shift in how the program defines contribution: away from participation numbers alone, and toward the equity frameworks that determine whether women stay in the game once they arrive.

South Canberra FC built that framework from the ground up. Established in 2021, the club set out to give women and female-identifying players a safe, inclusive environment to play football at any level. It runs entirely on volunteers, operates as a not-for-profit, and is governed by an all-female committee with 13 of its 14 coaches identifying as female.

 

Building the infrastructure of inclusion

In 2026, the club secured grant funding and put it to work immediately. Two coaches are completing their C Licence qualification, and ten coaches, players and community members have undertaken the Foundations of Football course, which directly tackles the cost and accessibility barriers that exclude women out of coaching pathways.

The club also commissioned a female-specific strength and conditioning program with sports physiotherapists ahead of the 2026 season, targeting injury prevention and explicitly supporting players returning after childbirth.

SCFC’s leadership team draws from LGBTIQ+ individuals, First Nations people and veterans, strengthening the club’s connection to the communities it was built to represent.

The Club Changer program is backing clubs that do this work- clubs that treat equity as infrastructure rather than aspiration. At a moment when Australian football is under pressure to turn its biggest-ever surge of women’s interest into something lasting, SCFC’s model offers a clear answer to the question of how.

Football NSW announces 2026 First Nations Scholarships as pathway access program enters new phase

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Image Credit: Football NSW

Football NSW has announced the recipients of its 2026 First Nations Scholarships, with ten emerging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander players from metropolitan and regional NSW receiving support designed to reduce the financial and structural barriers that have historically limited First Nations participation across the football pathway.

The scholarship program, developed and assessed in collaboration with the Football NSW Indigenous Advisory Group, targets players across both elite and development environments – recognising that talent identification alone is insufficient without the resources to support progression once players are identified.

Co-Chair of the Indigenous Advisory Group Bianca Dufty said the calibre of this year’s recipients reflected the depth of First Nations football talent across the state, and the importance of structured support in converting that talent into long-term participation.

“Their dedication to football and the desire to be role models for younger Aboriginal footballers in their communities is to be celebrated,” Dufty said. “I’m confident we will see some of these talented footballers in the A-League and national teams in the future.”

 

Beyond the pitch and into the pipeline

The 2026 cohort spans both metropolitan clubs and regional associations, an intentional distribution that acknowledges the particular barriers facing First Nations players outside major population centres, where access to development programs, qualified coaching and pathway competitions is more limited and the cost of participation more prohibitive.

The next phase of the program will introduce First Nations coaching scholarships, extending the initiative’s reach beyond playing pathways and into the coaching and administration pipeline – areas where Indigenous representation remains among the lowest in the game.

The structural logic is clear. Scholarships that reduce financial barriers at the entry point of elite pathways matter most when they are part of a sustained ecosystem of support rather than isolated gestures. Football NSW’s collaboration with the Indigenous Advisory Group provides that continuity, ensuring the program is shaped by the communities it is designed to serve.

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