NEW DELHI: Almost a fortnight after the schedule of the U-17 World Cup was announced, the sports ministry has finally realised that none of India's matches will be held in the Capital and has therefore asked the
All India Football Federation
(
AIFF
) to request
Fifa
to reallocate India's group matches to Delhi's
Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium
. India is most likely to be the A1team of Group A considering they are the hosts of the tournament. However, when the schedule of U-17 World Cup was announced in Kolkata last month, Mumbai's
DY Patil
stadium was allotted Group A matches. As per the current schedule, Delhi will be hosting one match of Group A comprising A2 and A3 teams, five Group B matches and two Round of 16 games.
The U-17 Fifa World Cup will be held in India from October 628 across six venues Delhi, Kolkata, Guwahati, Mumbai, Goa and Kochi. New Delhi can only hold matches upto October 16.Marquee matches have not been allotted in Delhi due to concerns over high pollution level after Diwali. "Delhi won't be able to host any matches after the 16th of October because of the high pollution level after Diwali. Since they can't host any of the semifinal or quarterfinal matches, the sports ministry says it would be nice to request Fifa to at least mo ve India's group matches to Delhi. So we have requested Fifa. We will wait and see what they have to say," AIFF general secretary
Kushal Das
informed TOI on Friday.
The AIFF put forward the request to Fifa two days back on Wednesday and are expecting a reply by next week, added Das."We have mentioned the reasons. The government is a big supporter of the event. They ha ve made a request that Delhi should get some importance in this context. We can expect a reply by next week since it's the holiday season right now. They (Fifa) will have to review it and discuss it with the competitions department. It might take a little bit of time."
The Union government has spent a lot of money on the tournament which will be the first Fifa event to be held in India.
The official draw of the tournament will be held on July 7.
Start a Conversation
Post comment