Calcutta To Host U17 Soccer WC

There is much excitement in the air as all are eagerly awaiting the first kick-off.

- Sudipto Mullick

True to U17 Soccer WC slogan, this October, ‘Football takes over’. That particular month - the festive season – will get even more ebullient. It will be a Soccer WC month to boot. Maybe, it is U17 but a prince is no less desirable than the king. “We know October is a month of festival in India and we want this to be a festival of football.” echoed Jaime Yarza, Head of Tournaments, when presenting an abbozzo.

Calcutta was awarded the prestigious duty to host Under-17 Soccer World Cup by the visiting FIFA delegation comprising an eight-member team led by Jaime Yarza and 12 Local Organising Committee members.

Semi-finals were apportioned to Navi Mumbai and Guwahati – DY Patil Stadium and Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, respectively, to be precise – as FIFA officials were quite impressed by both the facilities.

The deliberation that came after a seven-day inspection-visit comprising six cities - New Delhi, Guwahati, Margao, Kochi, Navi Mumbai; Kolkata being the last stop, just about edged out Mumbai, the first choice, as the ultimate-decider, to be held on 28 October.

It was the six training centres in and around the recently renovated Salt Lake Stadium premises – two being newly set up; the other four at SAI complex – that clinched it for Calcutta besides the city’s eternal passion and tryst involving this game. Bona-fide concerns of attendance writ large of the FIFA officials.

Challenging event

Calcutta, they decided, will be safer bet from that point of view than Delhi, Mumbai or Goa. Incidentally, Yuva Bharati Krirangan, the vernacular moniker of SL Stadium, was recently refurbished with crores and can currently accommodate 85,000 spectators.