By Samindra Kunti
September 27 – India has made a formal bid to host the 2019 U-20 World Cup, confirmed All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Praful Patel (pictured). Early next month India and the USA will kick off the U-17 World Cup, the first major international football tournament to be staged on Indian soil.
“We have no commitment yet because it has not yet been decided at the level of FIFA but we hope the conduct of this World Cup in India and with the whole FIFA executive committee coming to India, we will be in a position to convince FIFA of India’s ability, enthusiasm and commitment to hosting such games,” said Patel at a press conference in New Delhi on Tuesday. “We certainly feel that that time has come.”
It’s a lofty target for India and speaks to the aspirations that have been reiterated time and again within Indian football circles. Those aspirations have still to be backed up by credible reform and developmental processes in the Indian game which remains divided by the schism between the Indian Super League and the I-League. The national team level has made scant progress under English nomad coach Stephen Constantine.
India first expressed their interest in hosting the U-20 World Cup in July. The deadline for the bidding is November 1. South Korea hosted the U-20 World Cup last Spring with England defeating Venezuela 1-0 in the final courtesy of a goal from Dominic Calvert-Lewin. FIFA may be inclined to take the biennial youth tournament to another continent, which would severely lessen India’s chances of hosting the next edition in 2019. The FIFA Council will announce the winning bid in the first months of 2018.
The tournament would be another platform for Indian football to go to the next level and serve the current U-17 team well. The AIFF wants the expenditure on this group of players to have a lasting effect .
“There have been concerns of what happens to the U-17 World Cup team post their games,” said Patel. “We have already decided to keep the team as one unit and maybe bring in players from other age groups too. We will try to keep the coach with us so we are able to continue this young crop that we have developed into the stars of tomorrow.”
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