UFF spokesman Sanjar Rizayev said that the federation received official letter from FIFA on its decision not to stage the tournament in Uzbekistan. He said that this decision was shocking for Uzbekistan and the FIFA Executive Committee said that organization of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Uzbekistan will not allow FIFA to reach necessary organizational standards.

He underlined that the UFF delegation led by the First Deputy President visited the FIFA headquarters in Zurich to present the project on hosting the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup. Rizayev said that the report was accepted and FIFA received answers to all questions. He said that logo and mascot of tournament were approved. The sides also scheduled draw ceremony to 1 June 2012.

UFF spokesman said that several FIFA delegates should visit Uzbekistan in January to review venues for drawing ceremony. He accepted that there were shortages, but overall everything was going with set plans.

Sanjar Rizayev said that the UFF will not contest decision of the FIFA and will make necessary conclusions.

He said that it was planned that all stadiums will be ready to host the event by 1 March 2012 and the FIFA officials knew about it, but other decision was adopted. “We wanted to host this event. This would help to develop women football in the region. But, the tournament was taken away.

UFF spokesman stated that Uzbekistan will continue to work to ensure that the country can host tournaments in line with the FIFA standards.

As earlier reported, due to a number of logistical and technical issues, the FIFA Executive Committee during their meeting on 16 and 17 December in Tokyo had no other option than to decide that next year’s FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup would no longer be staged in Uzbekistan.