New Delhi, Oct 23 (IANS) India's capital city on Sunday became the fourth venue to be ratified to host next year's U-17 football World Cup.
Thirteen members of the world football governing body FIFA delegation together with 10 members of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) travelled to New Delhi and approved it as a venue, according to a release.
The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Complex received the go ahead after the team inspected the pitch and the training facilities and all assurances were given by the government that renovations would be completed before March 2017, including two training sites in the complex.
All India Football Federation (AIFF) General Secretary Kushal Das said: "We have been working with different stakeholders in the country from the start of this process and it is good that we are now seeing the results on the ground."
"FIFA is satisfied with the progress of all the venues visited so far and it gives us a big fillip for next year's tournament. We will put every effort into making the FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017 a memorable occasion for all Indian football fans."
Tournament Director of the LOC, Javier Ceppi said: "Work has finally started here and we hope it progresses well. It took some time but we are confident of the capacity of SAI to complete everything well in time for the event, so that we can test all the facilities."
"We have been working closely with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MOYAS) and Sports Authority of India (SAI) to make sure that the renovation works go as planned and we are able to deliver the tournament successfully in New Delhi."
Also present at the event were MOYAS Director -Sports Sagarpreet Hooda, SAI Director - Infrastructure Sanjiv Baranwal, Project Director LOC Joy Bhattacharjya and FIFA's Event Manager for the U-17 World Cup Marion Mayer-Vorfelder.
Placing emphasis on the preparations, Mayer-Vorfelder added, "We have been shown the plans for the renovation and we will be looking very carefully into the way the venue progresses to make it fully compliant."
"We hope that the pace of works now picks up and that we can have the facility match ready as soon as possible."
New Delhi is the fourth venue to be ratified for the FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017 after Kochi, Navi Mumbai and Goa.
