FISU has postponed the University World Cup Football to 2023 ©FISU

The University World Cup Football in Jinjiang has been postponed for a second time because of the COVID-19 pandemic and is now scheduled to take place in 2023, the International University Sports Federation (FISU) has announced.

FISU said holding the event in 2023, two years later than originally planned, "will reinforce the image and quality of the tournament" and give Continental Associations the chance to complete the qualification process.

"It will also minimise the impact of travel restrictions and recover the confidence of the participating delegations to travel," FISU said in a statement.

The organisation has also rescheduled the qualifiers, set to run from January to December 2022.

They had been due to be held between May and October 2021.

The tournament had been due to take place in 2021 before being moved to 2022 and now to 2023 ©FISU
The tournament had been due to take place in 2021 before being moved to 2022 and now to 2023 ©FISU

New dates for the event, which had been slated to run from May 18 to 29 2022, will be announced at a later date.

Jinjiang had been due to stage the World Cup in 2021 before it was pushed back to 2022 as continental qualifiers could not be held in 2020.

The latest postponement "will bring the natural calendar cycle back to its original format of organising the FISU University World Cup Football tournament every odd year", FISU added.

"Concerning the continuation of the preparation work for 2023, we will keep the same dedication in the event preparation with the Federation of University Sports of China and the Organising Committee to make sure the World Cups will happen seamlessly," said FISU World University Championships manager Julien Carrel.