1) Stars of U17 World cup
FIFA awarded the FIFA U17 World Cup hosting rights to India in 2013. India beat stiff competition from countries with much better infrastructure like Ireland to win the rights. This will be the 17th edition of the FIFA U17 World Cup that India would host from October 6th to October 28th 2017. The event will see 24 of the worlds best team playing in the event which will include India as well.
2) Goa
Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Margao: Known popularly as the Fatorda Stadium is a 20,000 seater stadium. The venue also hosted the AFC U16 Championship 2016 which was the deciding tournament from where the Asian teams in the FIFA U17 World Cup were decided. Iran, Iraq, Japan and South Korea qualified from the competition.
3) Kochi
Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium, Kaloor: The Southern most venue in the biggest football event that India is set to host. Also become the first venue to be ever ratified by FIFA for a FIFA World Cup competition.The 55,000 capacity stadium will be fully refurbished to have seating on all tiers. The training grounds in Kochi include the Maharaja’s college ground, Panampally Nagar Sports Hostel ground and the two pictureaqeue grounds of Fort Kochi Veli and Fort Kochi Parade ground.
4) Kolkata
Yuva Bharathi Stadium: The Salt Lake Stadium will be the biggest venue in the FIFA U17 World Cup competition with capacity exceeding 80,000. A strong contender for hosting the final of the world cup event.
5) Mumbai
DY Patil Stadium: Amongst all the stadium owners in the event, DY Patil is the only privately owned stadium facility. Located in Navi Mumbai and having a capacity of over 50,000.
6) Guwahati
Indira Gandhi Stadium: The stadium will bring the world cup to the football loving people of the North East. The facility has been the host of many a great football competitions and was selected due to the passion of the North East public for football.
7) Delhi
Jawharlal Nehru Stadium: The national capital will host their group matches in the world class stadium which was renovated for the Commonwealth games.
8)World Cup Trophy
This is what the 24 teams will be fighting for, the defending champions are Nigeria. However Nigeria has failed to qualify for the competition, hence making it an open competition for all teams and also shows how competitive the event is at the U17 age group.
9) Official Logo
The official world cup logo was launched during the visit of FIFA President GiannoI nfantino to Goa in October 2016. The World Cup logo incorporates the Blue of the Indian Ocean in the base with a Banyan Tree and Kite flying upwards to hold up a Sun and a burst to represent the festivities in India. The font used to write India 2017 is borrowed from the font used on Trucks across India which silent play a big role in connecting the nation.
10) Official Mascot
Like all FIFA events, an official mascot will be launched soon which will represent the values of Indian characters and will be attractive for Indian children to engage and draw them to the FIFA U17 World Cup.
11) Official song
Wakawaka, Wave your flag etc are all now popular trademarks of a great FIFA event, look forward to something exciting from FIFA for the U17 World Cup too.
12) Official Draw
The official draw is scheduled for July 7th, by then the 24 teams who have qualified from across the world would have been finalised. Asia is represented by 4 nations plus India as hosts, Africa, South America and the North America each have 4 representation, Oceania region by 2 teams and finally Europe with 5 teams. The officla draw is decide the group staging of the 24 teams.
13) Mission 11 Million
As part of the promotion of the FIFA U17 World Cup, the All India Football Federation and FIFA have initaited Mission 11 Million which is a grassroots program with an aim to encourage football across schools in India and to primarily encourage both boys and girls to play the game.
14) Indian U17 team
WIthout a doubt the whole nation will look to these 11 boys as for the first time ever India’s national anthem plays at the FIFA World Cup. The boys have been selected from a rigorous selection progress spread across the whole nation and aslo the Middle East which has a sizeable Indian population. With playing training games in Iran, Russia, Brazil, germany and spain, the team has been training hard to make India proud as they step out donning the national colors.
15) Stars of U17 World cup
The FIFA U17 World Cup has always been a steppign stone for many international stars to present their talents. Messi, Ronaldinho, Neymar, Luis Figo, Toni Kroos and many stars that dominate today’s headlines were once stars of the U17 competition. So look forward to the stars of tomorrow starting their amazing footballing careers from the grounds in India
16) Being Part of the World Cup
The world cup experience is not limited to just the teams and the administrators associated with organizing the event. FIFA believes in inclusivity and will soon launch their volunteership program which will allow everyone to be a part of the FIFA experience.
17) Lets change it to this point : FIFA Legacy
The world cup will definitely leave a lasting legacy in India, with 6 venues with state of the art facilities but also 24 training facilities prepared they will go a long way in ensuring that football interest generated by hosting the world cup is maintained and players have quality facilities to keep enjoying the game.