CSA Reacts To World Cup Decision

Ottawa, Ontario – The Canadian Soccer Association today reacted to the news that FIFA has decided to move the 2003 Women’s World Cup from PR China and has awarded the 2007 Women’s World Cup to PR China. The decisions were announced in a media statement issued Saturday, following a meeting of the FIFA Executive Committee in Zurich.
“We support the decision by FIFA to move the tournament which was obviously a very difficult one,” said CSA President Andy Sharpe. “We had anticipated this decision and the possibility of the 2007 World Cup going to China as a result and while we are disappointed we will now turn all of our efforts and attention to hosting the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada.”
Canadian Women’s World Cup Team head coach Even Pellerud has already begun an extensive preparation program to ensure his team is ready for the competition, which was originally scheduled to begin on September 23.
“The first decision to move the tournament from China was not surprising and we look forward to seeing who will be the new host,” said Pellerud. “Hopefully they will keep the same dates as we have been focusing our preparation on this time period.”
FIFA posted the following statement on their web site Saturday:
Zurich, May 3rd 2003 -The 4th FIFA Women’s World Cup 2003, due to be staged in PR China from 23 September to 11 October, will be transferred to another country in view of the current health threat in China, which is greatly affected by the SARS epidemic.
The FIFA Executive Committee, chaired by President Joseph S. Blatter, passed this decision at its meeting today, in compliance with a unanimous recommendation from the Sports Medical Committee of football’s world governing body (chairman: Dr Michel D’Hooghe, Belgium). The FIFA Sports Medical Committee had advised against holding the world championship in China after consulting experts at the World Health Organisation (WHO) and specialists in epidemiology and travel medicine in universities throughout Europe.
To date, the USA and Australia have expressed interest in staging the competition. The FIFA administration will be clarifying the situation over the next few weeks, especially with regard to the timing of the championship. The final competition should, ideally, coincide with the timing of that originally planned for China. Either the FIFA Emergency or Executive Committee will pass the final decision.
At the same time the Executive Committee announced that the 2007 Women’s World Cup would be awarded to China.