Navi Mumbai : Satisfied with the facilities and preparations here, football’s world governing body FIFA on Thursday ratified Navi Mumbai as a venue for the Under-17 World Cup to be held in India next year.
A 23-member high-level delegation, comprising experts from FIFA and Local Organising Committee (LOC), visited the D Y Patil Sports stadium here this morning before announcing its decision to select the stadium.
“It was November 2014, when Joy (Bhattacharya) and myself took probably the single most important flight for this tournament. We were struggling to find (to find) a solution for a venue, and solution to the situation in Mumbai. We took the flight an met Dr Vijay Patil. Dr Patil and D Y Patil institution, 300 students understood the magnitude of this event and they understood that this is a once in life-time opportunity,” Tournament Director Javier Ceppi told reporters.
“…it’s much more than just holding a World Cup and 23 days. You need somebody with a vision, you need somebody that has capacity to look at the project as a whole. At that time, he (Patil) assured us that he would do everything in his capacity to make the facility ready and to mobilise the project throughout,” he added.
“So, it is our pleasure to ratify Navi Mumbai and the D Y Patil Sports stadium as a venue for the FIFA Under 17 World Cup, Congratulations” Ceppi announced.
FIFA Project Lead for the U-17 World Cup, Tracy Lou said, “Big congratulations from FIFA for excellent work and good decision from Javier and team in choosing Navi Mumbai as one of the venues for the first ever FIFA Under 17 World Cup in India”.
The basis for the ratification for the Navi Mumbai venue not only focused on the main DY Patil Stadium and the training sites, but also took into account the interest that local authorities took throughout the process.
On Wednesday, Kochi became the first Indian city to be officially declared as one of the venues for hosting the U-17 World Cup after it received a green signal from a high-level delegation of football’s world body.
The delegation will now visit Goa on October 22. PTI
