Three potential Under-17 World Cup venues fall short

Three of the eight stadiums that were inspected by FIFA last month have failed to meet the minimum requirement to host the 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup, as per a TOI report.

Those venues are Nehru Stadium (Delhi), Balewadi Sports Complex (Pune) and Indira Gandhi Stadium (Guwahati) and none of them meet the minimum pitch size requirement of 105x68m as mandated by FIFA.

“The problem is the size and that’s largely because they are athletics stadiums. These stadiums have a track just beyond the football field. We have to see if we can increase the length of the football field so as to meet the minimum requirement,” said one of the members of the inspecting team.

Meanwhile Nehru Stadium (Kochi) and DY Patil (Mumbai) also have issues as they are mainly cricket venues. The stadium in Kochi is maintained by the Kerala Cricket Association under a five-year lease agreement with the Greater Cochin Development Authority which owns the stadium while DY Patil Stadium hasn’t hosted a football match previously and thus FIFA remain unconvinced.

Mumbai’s Cooperage Stadium, which hasn’t hosted an I-League fixture for a few years now and still has temporary stands, is not even considered as a venue.

On a positive note though, the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata looks to have the minimum requirements for now despite the artificial turf but a training ground nearby with a similar artificial turf will be required.