The city of Kolkata will turn into the headquarters of FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017 as well as the main broadcasting centre to cater stories of the entire tournament to 209 countries, FIFA Head of Events Jaime Yarza Said on Thursday during his visit to Kolkata. After meeting the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at the state secretariat Nabanna, Yarza told reporters that they were happy with the venues and other infrastructure in the city to conduct the tournament successfully. Expressing satisfaction over the work done at the Yuva Bharati Krirangan, Yarza said that the venue would turn into a top venue of the U-17 World Cup.
India's vast size and diversity posed as obstacles in the initial preparatory stage, but having crossed the hurdles, FIFA's head of events Jaime Yarza has promised to deliver a 'magnificent' U-17 World Cup football.
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 country is slated to host the tournament from October 11 to 30 across three venues -- Bhubaneswar's Kalinga Stadium, Goa's Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and Navi Mumbai's DY Patil Stadium.
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'.
The D Y Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai brightened its prospects of hosting Under-17 World Cup football matches next year, with the head of a FIFA delegation on Wednesday calling it a 'high quality' arena.
'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'
"I said last year that I was happy with the stadium and I haven't changed my mind. It is a fantastic stadium and most of the works which we have requested to be able to host four teams and all the logistical organisational aspects of the World Cup have been completed," Yarza told reporters after the inspection visit.
Expressing satisfaction over the work done at the Yuva Bharati Krirangan, a FIFA inspection team on Thursday proposed few minor changes to turn the facility into a world class stadium. "We inspected the stadium. The planning and work done here is excellent. The work done until now is fruitful and satisfactory. There are minor amendments that need to be done. "We will come back in October to see the final situation. This will become the top stadium in India in future," Jamie Yazra, Head of Events, FIFA U-17 World Cup delegation team, said. While talking about minor changes, Yazra said these will be small fine tunings
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.
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.
'Mission XI Million is the most ambitious football engagement programme to date in India.'
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances