Kolkata: Many in India are quite excited about the marquee FIFA event, the U-17 World Cup, that is going to take place later this year. And the men behind the infrastructural development of the stadium in Mumbai, haven’t disappointed FIFA, which is evident from a recent confirmation made by a delegation of world body officials which states that the DY Patil Stadium is one of the ‘best in the country.’
A delegation of officials, led by the Head of Events Jamie Yarza, had earlier visited the stadiums in New Delhi, Kochi and Goa and after inspecting the stadium in the company of the local organising committee (LOC), they rated the Mumbai stadium as one of the most well prepared grounds to host the matches.
While interacting with the reporters after inspecting the facilities available at the stadium, Yarza said, “This will be one of the best, if not the best stadium in the country, to host the World Cup matches.”
The Mumbai stadium was considered ready to be able to host the tournament matches despite some temporary constructions like the access path for the teams and the VIP areas, a functional media centre, along with the relaying of the pitch. Other than the temporary changes at the venue, the local team was also in the last phases of the construction of two training grounds, with the FIFA mandates requiring four.
He said, “Most of the works which we have requested to be able to host four teams plus the refereeing teams, and all the logistical organisational aspects of the World Cup, have been completed,” He was also glad with the way things were going with the preparations, as he said, “The rest of the work [which is yet to be done], is of temporary nature so they will be done at a later stage. In that sense we have absolutely no worry that everything will be in place. We are very happy with all the preparations.”
And Javier Ceppi, the Tournament Director, felt along the same lines after an inspecting the changes made at the stadium. He further added that the Mumbai stadium has become a yardstick for meeting expected standards of development, which is to be followed as an example by the other grounds in the country.
“This is by far the best stadium in the country at this point of time. We need to make sure that every other stadium is as good as this one. This is the standard the other stadiums have to get” said Ceppi.
He also believed that the tournament would be well received by the people of Mumbai and thanked the authorities for their continued support. “We are sure that all the people from Maharashtra will be very proud about DY Patil hosting the World Cup and will come down in numbers to watch all the matches. We’re also appreciative of Navi Mumbai Sports Association as their training ground is practically completed and will be among the best ones in the country, and we are thankful of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation, as they will develop the Yashwantrao Chavan Maidan ground to be the fourth training site in the city,” said Ceppi.
The FIFA officials, on their earlier visits to New Delhi and Goa wasn’t quite happy with the way things were working out in the stadiums there and had made several requests to the authorities concerned to speed up the work with less than 200 days left for the competition to begin. However their visit to Mumbai would surely raise their hopes of a bright future for the tournament ahead to be held in India.
The delegation team is slated to visit Guhawati next followed by a visit to Kolkata. Yarzi however declined to comment when asked whether the Mumbai stadium was ready to host the final of the marquee event, and it was later learnt that the stadiums which would host the semifinals and the finals would only be decided after the delegates visit Kolkata.
The Salt Lake stadium in the City of Joy is undoubtedly one of the best stadiums in the country and earlier, the stadium developmental work for the global tournament had drawn praises from many people. Also, the Durga Puja, a huge festival especially in Kolkata not clashing with the tournament dates is likely to draw in huge crowds as the city loves it’s football and has a good solid football history.
As of now, it is a two-horse race between Mumbai and Kolkata to get the nod for hosting the finals and only time would tell as to which of these gets to see history in the making on the 28th of October, the day of the final. The tournament begins on the October 6.
(With inputs from agencies)