Due to the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic, FIT and the host nation England have made the joint decision to defer the tournament initially planned to take place in July 2021.
We made this decision on several fronts but first and foremost is the health and wellbeing of the participants and spectators that an event of this nature will attract.
There are a great many uncertainties relating to the logistics for bringing 50 teams to Manchester. Many nations continue to have mandatory isolation periods for international travellers, and we don’t know when these will end, and air travel is operating well below pre-COVID levels. The availability and affordability of flights make scheduling and budgeting difficult for nations who wish to attend.
This uncertainty poses many risks to the viability of the event. For the participating nations, the difficulty in organising teams to go to Manchester was already complicated enough without these concerns. For England, as hosts, this difficulty translates into financial risk as teams may not be able to confirm attendances without travel and border security concerns being satisfied.