After taking on Vitoria de Setubal at Troia, the team will cross swords against leading Portuguese club sides Belenenses, Benfica, Estoril and Sporting Club Portugal.
The FIFA's inspection team on Wednesday sounded fairly satisfied over the progress at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi, one of the venues for the Under-17 World Cup, but urged authorities to speed up work on core areas like competition and training sites.
The path found by champions like GR Viswanath, Syed Kirmani, Brijesh Patel, EAS Prasanna and BS Chandrasekhar has only broadened over the years through which several ace cricketers walked through.
European champions Spain will enter their final group match against DPR Korea as the firm favourites, looking to secure a Round of 16 berth in the FIFA U-17 World Cup, in Kochi, on Friday.
No praise is enough for Ravichandran Ashwin, said India captain Rohit Sharma on Wednesday as he lauded the senior off-spinner ahead of his 100 Tests, calling him a "rare" talent who has contributed consistently to the team's success.
'We will be starting with the U17 league first, followed by the U15 and U13. There will be spotters in most of the games of U13 leagues, to identify talents.'
Kolkata will host the summit clash of the U-17 World Cup football on October 28 while Navi Mumbai and Guwahati were chosen to stage the semi-finals.
The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi on Wednesday became the first Indian city to be officially declared as one of the venues for hosting the 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup after it received a green signal from a high-level delegation of football's world body.
Having won all their three group matches with ease, South American giants Brazil will start clear favourites when they take on the unfancied Honduras in a pre-quarterfinal match of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, in Honduras.
Watching a match during the Under-17 FIFA World Cup, first ever in India, would cost the fans less than Rs 100, the Tournament Director said on Thursday.
Legendary coach Arsene Wenger on Tuesday committed himself to "digging out talent" in India and place the country on world football map.
The world's most-talented young players gave India a memorable show of high quality football on the field as the country showcased its organizational skills in a near-flawless and record-breaking FIFA Under-17 World Cup across six cities, which culminated with England clinching the title in Kolkata on Saturday.
European powerhouse France rallied from a goal down to hand a 5-1 drubbing on Honduras and qualify for the knockout stage as group toppers in the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Guwahati.
It was a feast for the eyes as 40,620 people turned out at the Saltlake Stadium and witnessed the five-goal thriller with England dominating the first one-hour, followed by Mexico's second-half resurgence.
'Gone are those days when a girl from our state is supposed to get married at a younger age and spend the rest of her life struggling in the kitchen'
An alumni of the prestigious Cornell University and a senior techie (coder) at Oracle, Netravalkar juggled academics and cricket with aplomb.
'The venue has a very strong football culture and it would be a matter of great shame if we don't manage to fulfil the requirements in time'
The total number of spectators, who turned up at the six host venues across the country, currently stand at 12,24,027, a mere 6949 less than the earlier attendance of 12,30,976 set in the first edition of the tournament in China in 1985.
But after English FA's intervention, the Bundesliga giants have now allowed the 17-year-old to feature in Steve Cooper's side only for the group stages.
India will stage the Under-17 football World Cup from October 6 to 28 next year, the sport's world governing body FIFA announced today while ratifying Kolkata as the sixth venue for the mega-event after an inspection in Kolkata. The draw for the mega-event, to be held across six venues in India, will take place on July 7. "We first came here two years ago to see the stadium. The work that has done has been staggering. I am confident that the stadium will look 30 years younger. I grew up here watched football here, it gives me immense pleasure to say Kolkata has been ratified as one of the venue for World Cup matches," Joy Bhattacharya, Project director -- FIFA U-17 World Cup, said.
India coach Luis Norton de Matos on Sunday said they are ready for a physically and technically superior Colombia and will 'fight till the last minute' in their Group A match of the FIFA U-17 World Cup in New Delhi, on Monday.
One of the traditional hubs of Indian football alongside Kolkata and Kerala, Goa's chances of hosting marquee matches in the FIFA U-17 World Cup appear to have taken a hit owing to low attendance in the AFC U-16 event last year.
A civil war and the menace of militancy has prevented them from playing many matches in run up to the FIFA Under-17 World Cup but then Iraq have proved that they can conquer odds and perform well.
Lallianzuala Chhangte was named the AIFF Men's Footballer of the Year, on the back of his impressive performance in the Indian Super League (ISL) and for the national team.
Midfield lynchpin Suresh Singh feels India would need to improve their final pass, but an improvement in department would not be enough against Colombia's all-round superiority.
FIFA is set to shift India's Under-17 World Cup matches from Mumbai to Delhi as the apex soccer body has taken the host government's request 'very seriously'.
Ghana outclassed Colombia 1-0, while New Zealand held Turkey to a 1-1 draw in the opening matches of the FIFA Under-17 World Cup on Friday.
Esther Staubli is set to become the first female referee to officiate a match at the ongoing FIFA Under-17 World Cup 2017.
Sakshi Malik revealed that her family is getting threats.
Making their second Under-17 World Cup appearance, Iraq have been the surprise package of the proverbial 'group of death' as they are well placed to advance to the knockout stage following a spirited 1-1 draw against two-time champions Mexico, and a 3-0 rout of Latin American giants Chile.
Bajwa, when asked whether Indian grapplers will compete under the United World Wrestling (UWW) flag at the Paris Olympics since the Wrestling Federation of India has been banned by the international body, told PTI that, since the Olympics and Asian Games are multi-discipline events, "they will compete as part of the Indian contingent".
Bajrang Punia said they were ready to sacrifice medals as delivering justice to the victims would be their biggest medal.
Indian football team's head coach Igor Stimac has called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention to ensure the team's participation at the Asian Games.
The women's national wrestling camp will be held at Sports Authority of India's Patiala centre in future following reservations from multiple female grapplers.
The 36-time champions picked under-17 spinner Iqbal Abdulla in the squad for the semifinal against Baroda.
Midfielder Amarjit Singh has been unanimously elected as the captain of Indian team for the upcoming FIFA Under-17 World Cup to be held next month.
India now need to beat Bangladesh and Myanmar in their remaining two games to qualify for the second round. Myanmar beat Bangladesh 4-2 in the other group game earlier.
The Indian team may not have won medals but the youngsters have won the hearts of everyone, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on the FIFA Under- 17 World Cup during his monthly radio programme.
Apart from the senior competition, the U-17 and U-23 Asian Championships are set to return to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan for a second straight year. The tournament will take place from June 10 to 18.
Paraguay continued to shine and recorded their third win on the trot when they thrashed a struggling Turkey 3-1 in a Group B match of the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Navi Mumbai.
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