MARGAO
As part as ongoing process of site inspection on various cities to organise the U-17 FIFA World Cup in the country this October, a seven-member delegation comprising of the LOC and FIFA experts, visited the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Fatorda on Thursday to apprise themselves of the readiness of the venue to host the prestigious tournament.
Speaking at a media interaction in the city, Head of Tournaments for FIFA, Jaime Yarza expressed satisfaction that Fatorda is shaping well to play host. “More than a year ago, we had our inspection here and we have seen a lot of improvements since and are very satisfied with the support from the authorities here who are doing a fantastic job. They had a very good test with the World Cup Qualifiers. You can see that most of the requirements that we have requested have been finalised. So the stadium in a much better state from what it was one year ago.
“Cosmetic changes regarding the stadium will come in place at a latter stage. There is one concern we have that the LOC has made us aware that the Government of Goa needs to work with different Panchayats to ensure preparation of the grounds. A problem that needs to be solved. One big concern that we have is that during the AFC U-16 Championship held in Goa last year, there have been very small crowds turning up. The public did not respond as we had expected. This is a very big concern,” he added.
“Obviously despite having India playing in their home country only around 4000 spectators coming in the stadium. We are evaluating very carefully with the help of LOC about matches to be played in Goa. But other than that, the stadium will be in very good shape with the support of all the authorities who have been giving us a lot of confidence in this region.”
On the chances of Goa being a venue for the knock-out stages of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, Yarza did not rule out the possibility but maintained that the big area of concern remained the public response for the matches a situation they are looking to solve to benefit everyone. Tournament Director of the LOC, Javier Ceppi said, “We are extremely pleased and satisfied with all the developments that have happened on the infrastructure front. The stadium is almost good to go. We have been to the training sites and they are in good
condition.
“We just need to work with the field of play conditions and also work with the Panchayats, who have to give their time required for preparation and maintenance of the grounds. It is looking bright and nice for Goa with the readiness of the infrastructure. We have to assess again, the willingness of the State has to be assessed though and its football people when it comes to attendance and I hope everything goes well.”
Project Director, LOC, FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017, Joy Bhattacharjya spoke on their legacy project involving school children around the country.”With Programme Mission XI Million, we are reaching out to every school around the country. We thought Goa is the most conducive city and we did our first test here. In the first set of seminars here, we reached out to around 100 schools. With the next set of seminars we will involve close to 400-500 schools around the city (Goa).”
Ceppi on involving local panchayats in this endeavour, said that is a good possibility to have their local expertise. “We have worked before with the Panchayats at Nagoa, Raia, Benaulim, Cortalim, Cuncolim. We will try and make a complete movement out of it and not for the sake of just doing it. We want to see the crowds and the excitement of the kids and families coming to the stadium and able to see a football World Cup in the city which is a once in a lifetime experience.”
Representing Goa Football Association, Schubert Furtado piped in. “As far as GFA is concerned, we will be going all out to help FIFA in the organization of the tournament. As for the concern of appealing to crowds, it is true they have been less but today for the Santosh Trophy semi-finals, I think the stadium will be packed.”
