What’s the story?
The All India Football Federation (AIFF) is still in the dark about whether India’s home matches in the FIFA Under-17 World Cup 2017 could be hosted at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi as they await a response from FIFA to make a final decision regarding a change of venues.
The Indian sports ministry wants all of India's group stage matches to be staged in Delhi instead of Navi Mumbai, but the designs at FIFA suggest that is a remote possibility. Further lobbying is expected and new developments should unfold before the official draw event of the Under-17 World Cup.
The context
The FIFA Under-17 World Cup 2017 is scheduled to be held between 6 October and 28 October later this year across six Indian cities.
While the AIFF have seemingly no issue with Navi Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium hosting all of India’s group stage matches, they had requested FIFA to shift the matches to Delhi after being swayed by pressure from the sports ministry.
In April this year, reports surfaced that Delhi was set to replace Navi Mumbai as India's home ground at the World Cup, but the Local Organising Committee rubbished those reports.
The heart of the matter
It has already been two months since the AIFF placed an official request with FIFA regarding a change of venues and are yet to receive a response from the governing body for world football.
According to FIFA protocol, the hosts are usually placed A1 which means India would be placed in Group A as the number one team (A1) in the four-team cluster. While Navi Mumbai was ideally scheduled to host the Group A matches, a change of venue would subsequently lead to Delhi hosting all the Group A matches while Navi Mumbai would be settling down for Group B matches.
Alternatively, instead of shifting the matches to the new venue, which in itself is a rather complicated process, FIFA could potentially move India to Group B.
The delay in response is obvious due to the procedures involved in shifting the schedule around keeping in mind that the event is drawing closer. The draw for the tournament is set to be on the 7th of July in Navi Mumbai, 91 days before the tournament kick starts.
What’s next?
FIFA has been in regular contact with the AIFF, along with the Local Organising Committee (LOC) regarding the upcoming tournament. The officials are slated to sit and work the changes out after the Confederations Cup gets over in Russia and the decision would be communicated before the draw on the 7th of July.
The hosting responsibilities for the tournament will be shared by six venues, which include New Delhi, Navi Mumbai, Kolkata, Kochi, Guwahati and Goa. The final match is slated to take place at Kolkata’s Salt Lake Stadium on the 28th of October.
While Delhi would be hosting two pre-quarter finals along with six other games, they would not be hosting any matches after the 16th of October due to pollution levels owing to the upcoming Diwali celebrations.
Author’s take
With the tournament approaching, the organisers seem to be racing against time to be able to accommodate the changes that are being sent their way.
