PM Narendra Modi welcomes the world for India's first FIFA tournament
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Moditoday welcomed all the participating nations and wished them luck for the U-17 World Cup, India's first ever FIFA tournament.
The World Cup starts today with matches in Delhi and Mumbai.
"A warm welcome and best wishes to all teams taking part in the FIFA U-17 World Cup. I am sure the World Cup will be a treat for football lovers," the Prime Minister said.
Modi will be a part of the World Cup's opening day proceedings, which will include a small ceremony at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
The tournament will be played in six cities -- New Delhi, Navi Mumbai, Kolkata, Guwahati, Kochi and Margao.
Modi will be accompanied by FIFA General Secretary Fatma Samoura and Head of FIFA tournaments Jaime Yarza on an inaugural day.
Indian football greats I.M. Vijayan, Bhaichung Bhutia and current national team captain Sunil Chhetri are also likely to be a part of the historical moment.
The 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup is the 17th FIFA U-17 World Cup, a biennial international football tournament contested by men's under-17 national teams. Organized by FIFA, the tournament is taking place in India between 6 October and 28 October 2017, after the country was awarded the hosting rights on 5 December 2013. The tournament marks the first time India have hosted a FIFA tournament and the first Asian hosted U-17 World Cup since 2013.
The matches are being played in 6 stadiumsin six host cities around the country, with the final taking place at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, West Bengal. Twenty-three teams, besides the host India, managed to qualify for the tournament via participating in their various continental under-17 tournaments. In the first round of the tournament finals, the teams will compete in round-robin groups of four teams for points, with the top two teams in each group proceeding while the top four third placed teams will also advance. These 16 teams will advance to the knockout stage, where three rounds of play will decide which teams would participate in the final.
The reigning FIFA U-17 World Cup champions, Nigeria, will not have the opportunity to defend their title after failing to qualify for this edition. In failing to qualify, Nigeria became the first incumbent title holder since Switzerland in 2009 to fail to qualify for the subsequent edition.
