Olympic football is usually restricted to under-23 teams for the men’s tournament, with three overage players allowed per team, Reuters reported.

There is no age limit for the women’s tournament.

However, a working group set up by global soccer’s governing body FIFA recommended on Friday that the competition should remain open to players born on or after January 1, 1997, as originally planned, FIFA said in a statement.

This would effectively raise the age limit by one year, as requested by both South Korea and Australia.

Football Federation Australia (FFA) welcomed the move.

“FFA has been vocal in its view that the men’s Olympic football tournament … should shift to an under-24 format since it was confirmed that Tokyo 2020 will be held in 2021,” FFA said in a statement.

“The endorsement by the FIFA-Confederations working group highlights their understanding of the will of participating member associations to keep the Olympic dreams of players born on or after 01.01.1997 alive.”

The working group also recommended the postponement of all international matches due to be played in June — a formality as Euro 2020, the Copa America and the month’s World Cup qualifiers have already been called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The recommendations still have to be approved by the FIFA Bureau, a reduced version of its decision-making Council.

“FIFA also reiterates that health must always be the first priority and the main criteria in any decision-making process, especially in these challenging times,” said FIFA.

The group proposed discussions with continental confederations to finalize a revised schedule for 2022 World Cup qualifiers, after matches this month and in June were postponed.

It also recommended the postponement of the under-20 women’s World Cup, due to be co-hosted by Panama and Costa Rica in August and September, and the under-17 women’s World Cup in India, originally scheduled for November.

A decision on the Futsal World Cup in Lithuania in September should be made by the end of this month, it said.

The fate of the 2020 Games, scheduled to open in Tokyo on July 24, has been thrown into doubt by the outbreak of the virus, now dubbed a pandemic, AFP reported.

But organizers, Japanese government officials and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have insisted preparation for the Games is on track, with no expectations of a postponement or cancelation.

“There is no change in the government policy in that we closely cooperate with the IOC, the organizing committee, and the Tokyo metropolitan government to steadily prepare for holding the Games as scheduled,” government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters.

He said Prime Minister Abe Shinzo and Trump had held a phone call to discuss the outbreak as well as the Olympics.

“In the telephone talks with President Trump, the prime minister mentioned our efforts toward holding the Games, and the president said he highly values Japan’s efforts on transparency,” Suga said.

He did not say whether Trump had repeated his suggestion, made a day earlier, that the Games might need to be delayed.

“I would say maybe they postpone it for a year,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday.

“You know, I like that better than I like having empty stadiums all over the place. I think if you cancel it, make it a year later, that’s a better alternative than doing it with no crowd,” he said.

The suggestion was roundly dismissed by Japan’s Olympic Minister Seiko Hashimoto.

“I’m aware of President Trump’s remarks but neither the IOC nor the organizing committee is thinking about delaying or canceling the Games at all,” she said at a regular briefing Friday.

Asked about the possibility of scaling back the number of spectators, Hashimoto said, “We are not thinking about that at all.”

Suga also said the government “doesn’t envisage” either a Games without spectators or the prospect of athletes withdrawing from the event.

IOC chief Thomas Bach told German television ARD on Thursday that the body would follow recommendations by the World Health Organization, but for now, it continues to work for “successful” Games.

He acknowledged however that cancelations of Olympic qualifiers are starting to pose “serious problems”.

“Crowds of spectators who do not know each other prior to the Games will come together and learn that there is more that unites them than divides them,” Tokyo 2020 said as it unveiled the motto, AFP reported.

The official 2020 Olympic motto is “Citius, Altius, Fortius” or “Faster, Higher, Stronger”, but each host city chooses its own motto to accompany that edition of the Games.

London’s motto in 2012 was “Inspire a Generation”, whereas Athens in 2004 went for “Welcome Home” – a nod to the birthplace of the Games in Olympia.

Less well-received was Sochi, which plumped for “Hot. Cool. Yours”, sparking derision in some quarters.

Tokyo said the motto would be beamed onto the Skytree tower in the Japanese capital to raise awareness as it will be seen for miles around.

The opening ceremony will be on July 24 and organizers have stressed there is no discussion about changing this date despite the coronavirus crisis hitting global transport.

Tokyo 2020 rollouts have not always been smooth. In September 2015, the Games logo was ditched after accusations of plagiarism.

Designer Olivier Debie said the design was stolen from his logo for a Belgian theater and threatened court action before officials withdrew the emblem, saying it “no longer has public support.”