Olympic women’s football final MOVED to 9pm local time kick-off following complaints from Sweden and Canada over player welfare in mid-day heat at Tokyo Games
The women’s Olympic football final between Sweden and Canada has been moved to a later kick-off following a request from both countries, Sweden’s FA said in a statement on Thursday.
The game was due to kick off at 11am local time (3am BST) in Tokyo but met complaints due to the expected mid-day heat and will now be played at 9pm local time (1pm BST).
‘It feels good that our desire for a later kick-off has been well received, and that we now how a match time that is better suited to the players in terms of the heat,’ said the head of Sweden’s women’s team, Marika Domanski Lyfors, in a statement.
The women’s Olympic football final between Sweden and Canada has been moved
The game was scheduled for 11am local time but complaints about the heat have seen it moved to 9pm on Friday
Trackside temperatures at the athletics stadium in Tokyo had hit 40 degrees Celsius earlier this week, prompting concern from both sides about player welfare if the game went ahead in the late morning.
The latest weather forecasts predicts temperatures at the original start time to hover around the 32 degrees mark, but that figure drops to 27 degrees Celsius at the rescheduled start time.
Sweden will make their second straight appearance at an Olympic Games final after beating Australia in their semi-final.
But they will be hoping for a better result this time around, having lost the 2016 final in Rio to Germany.
Canada meanwhile stunned world champions USA – who went on to win an entertaining bronze medal match against the Matildas – to reach the Olympic final on Friday.
The temperature is expected to be 32 degrees on Friday at 11am, but drops to 27 degrees at 9pm