U-17 FIFA World Cup finals at Salt Lake Stadium
Kolkata's iconic Salt Lake Stadium will host the finals of the U-17 FIFA World Cup 2017, to be held later this year. "Apart from the finals, Kolkata will also host ten world cup matches," said FIFA Tournament Director Javier Ceppi. Tournament's official slogan 'Football Takes Over' was also introduced during the press conference held at the hall in Salt Lake Stadium.
On 5 December 2013, India were awarded the rights to host the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup in a FIFA Executive-Meeting at Brazil. India beat Azerbaijan, Ireland and Uzbekistan in the race to host the big tournament. The tournament will have 24 teams and will be played at six locations in India - they would be selected after getting nod from the FIFA Committee.
All India Football Federation has short-listed eight locations, out of which six will be selected as the venues for hosting FIFA U-17 World Cup matches. The proposed locations are - Goa, Kochi, Guwahati, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Pune.
FIFA inspection team gave a wake-up call to All India Football Federation regarding renovations of venues for the U-17 World Cup. Head of events Jaime Yarza said that FIFA was happy with the planning but they have not seen anything. He said, "The deadline to finish the construction is Oct'16. The state and central government need to put planning into motion and start working."
Tournament Director Javier Ceppi seemed unhappy with the progress and said that there should be implementation of the planning done. He added, "There is no room for jugaad. This culture has to change. You don't have to run at the last minute."
A high level delegation of FIFA gave green signal to Kochi as one of the venues to host the 2017 U-17 World Cup. Thus, Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium, Kochi became the first of six venues to get a positive nod from football's world body. The delegation said that they are happy with the work done and a few minor things need to be done.
The 23-member FIFA delegation gave a nod to Mumbai's DY Patil Stadium as one of the venues for the 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup. The delegation gave the green signal after inspecting the stadium. Reportedly, the current capacity of 55,000 seats would be increased by further 2000 seats after adding temporary stands near the dressing rooms.
The FIFA delegation that is inspecting venues for the U-17 World Cup said they were impressed by standards of the DY Patil stadium in Navi Mumbai. Javier Ceppi, tournament director of the FIFA U-17 World Cup said "This is by far the best stadium in the country." He added that all other stadiums need to ascribe to these standards soon.
