The women’s Olympic soccer final between Sweden and Canada has been moved to a later kick-off, to avoid the intense midday heat, Sweden’s Football Association said in a statement on Thursday.
The game had been due to kick off at 11am local time in Tokyo (0200 GMT) on Friday but both teams complained because of the high temperatures expected and it will now be played at 9 p.m. local time (8:00 a.m. ET Friday morning) at Yokohama’s International Stadium.
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“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.
Competition organisers FIFA were not immediately available for comment.
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Canada reached the final by upsetting gold-medal favourites the United States in their semi-final while Sweden beat Australia in the last four.
On Thursday, the U.S took the bronze medal after beating Australia 4-3 in Kashima.
