By Samindra Kunti
September 1 – In October India will host their first major international tournament, the U-17 World Cup. Six host cities will welcome 24 teams, including England and debutants New Caledonia. In an interview with Insideworldfootball, tournament director Javier Ceppi discusses the build-up and preparations as local organisers seek to cross the finish line in time for the opening game between the hosts and the United States of America on October 6.
What is the latest update on the preparations for the tournament?
The preparations are going as per the plans, which is something very important. Most of the core infrastructure is in place already and whatever is not, it was always the plan to tackle it later post monsoon, such as painting of the stadiums, landscaping, etc. With little over a month to go, preparations are where they should be.
In general, are you happy with the preparedness of India for the tournament?
It has been a long journey so far, but things are coming up quite nicely in terms of infrastructure, operational readiness and interest of people on the tournament. India is treating the FIFA U-17 World Cup almost as a Senior World Cup: it has had the coverage of a Senior World Cup, the interest on tickets of a Senior World Cup and the general goodwill of the population. That is the most important part, and we are quite satisfied with it.
FIFA’s Jamie Varza had said the stadium in Kochi is behind schedule.
That was from the inspection made in March 2017. The venue has since picked up the pace and all the core infrastructure is in place. Now beautification, hygiene and painting works are going on, but it is not a concern.
Recently Assam secretary Ankur Dutta commented that matches may not go ahead in Guwahati. due to security concerns.
There has never been a concern about Guwahati. From the beginning we have always said that it is one of our key venues, because of what the North East means for football in the country. The new authorities from the Government of Assam have been very supportive and we have never thought or planned not hosting any of the scheduled matches in Guwahati.
India is notorious for having a stifling bureaucracy with many layers of red tape. How difficult has it been to navigate through all that to organise a tournament of this magnitude?
We have had nothing but support from the Government of India and the different State Governments. They know that this is a huge opportunity for football and the World Cup with Mission XI Million have picked up such momentum that they are doing a lot of activities on their own to support it and get everything ready on time
Ticketing has been good in Mumbai, Kochi and Kolkata, what about the other cities?
Ticketing has picked up on all the venues. Guwahati has almost sold out all the inventory that has been put up for sale. Goa will see a surge once physical ticket sales start next week and in Delhi we have had numbers that have never been seen for an event in the capital that’s more than a month away.
Can you provide us with specific ticketing numbers?
What we can say is that no event in India before has had as many tickets sold as we have with over a month to go to the event. What this tournament has achieved so far has been counterintuitive to the fact that Indians usually buy at last minute. If offered a good product at a reasonable price. People will buy it. Proof of it is that we have already sold all the inventory of tickets for 5 matches of the tournament, which is huge.
What will the legacy of the tournament be? It must go beyond infrastructure and the Mission XI million which in essence is just a training session for kids.
Actually, Mission XI Million is the single largest school contact programme ever done in India and is not just a training session for kids: it is a huge change of mindset and the real legacy of the tournament and for years to come in Indian football will come from Mission Eleven Million. The one liner is to make football accessible to everyone. We are changing a perception that you can only play football in a large field in the 11 vs. 11 format. We have gone to almost 12,000 schools so far and have told physical education teachers and administrators that you can play football in any space, with any number of kids and on any surface. It does not matter if it is 4 vs. 4, 5 vs. 5 or if it one kid playing against a wall, the only thing that matters is that they are playing and getting exposed to the game. We believe that this will have a huge transformational value for football in India and that the next generation of Indian footballers, fans and administrators will come up from Mission XI Million. Football is a very simple game. You do not need much equipment to play it. At the very basic level, you just need one element: the ball. This simplicity resonates quite well with teachers and kids. It is a fun game that has a large amount of activity for everyone and the rules aren’t complex. We have seen a huge surge in interest for football all around the country thanks to Mission XI Million.
What are you doing in terms of promotion and marketing for the event?
Through Mission Eleven Million, we have taken football and the World Cup to a large number of rural areas and the enthusiasm is quite big, so we will keep doing that during the run-up to the tournament. The ticket sales data show that a lot of sales are coming out from other tier 2 and tier 3 cities in India, which means that there is a fair amount of awareness all around the country that the World Cup is happening. Also, the Prime Minister has mentioned the World Cup on his Mann Ki Baat addresses to the nation and that has given the tournament a widespread recognition. Closer to the event, all the TV promotion will start, which will give an even wider appeal to it. Plus, we are doing the FIFA Legends Match in Mumbai and the Trophy Experience all around the venues, so we feel the momentum is there.
How important will India’s performance be for the tournament?
The most important thing is for the Indian national team to make the country proud with what they show on the field, results are secondary. If India advances in the tournament, of course it would be great, but the key part is that all Indians can be represented with the effort, passion and attitude of the team on the field of play.
You were involved in the organisation of the U17 World Cups in Chile and the UAE. What can one expect from the sporting action?
This will be the best live football ever in India. The level of a U-17 World Cup is fantastic. These players are already recognised in the world. Vinicius Junior, Jadon Sancho, Takefusa Kubo are but a few examples. Tactically, the tournament should be very interesting as well. For all football fans in India, this will be a real treat.
If the event goes well, is there a chance that India can host bigger football events in the future? The AIFF has repeatedly hinted at hosting the U20 World Cup.
First let´s focus on delivering the U-17 World Cup in 2017. This is the first FIFA Tournament that the country is hosting and it will set a benchmark to see whether India is prepared to host any other FIFA events in the future.
Come the final, when will the tournament have been a success?
If we are able to reach to 11 million school kids with football through Mission Eleven Million, if we have had full stadiums and no major incidents, and if we get a sense that this tournament has contributed to the start of a revolution for football in India. If all those factors come together, we would be able to say that the tournament has been a success.
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