FIFA boss hails success but no word on U-20 bid
KOLKATA: FIFA chief Gianni Infantino described the ongoing Under-17 World Cup here as a “resounding success” but refrained from giving any commitment on India’s bid to host the U-20 World Cup in 2019.
Infantino, who addressed the media after the FIFA Council Meeting here, declared a football continent and said that FIFA will continue to work with India to continue the momentum generated by the successful hosting of the FIFA World Cup.
“The FIFA U-17 World Cup in India is a resounding success with some records broken. India is not only a country but a continent in itself. But I have now found out that India is also not only a football country but is a football continent. The way the (FIFA U-17) World Cup has been perceived by the people of India has been mazing,” said Infantino during a media conference.
“Having seen the U-17 World Cup in India, I can say that it was worth allotting this to India. There was very good competition among teams and attendance was amazing.
“Not only the U-17 World Cup record, it can even break the all time attendance record in an U-20 World Cup which is 1.3 million spectators in the 2011 Colombia edition.”
Asked whether FIFA will consider India’s bid to host the 2019 U-20 World Cup despite the fact that South Korea, another Asian country, has hosted the tournament earlier this year, Infantino was non-committal.
“This year, there were two World Cups this year. The U-20 World Cup in South Korea was a successful one and then this U-17 World Cup in India has also been a success. We have received request from several countries expressing desire to host the 2019 U-20 World Cup. Now the FIFA administration Will analyse this and present it (a report) to the FIFA Council early next year (for a decision),” he said, referring to the meeting scheduled in March.
“This is for the 2019 U-20 World Cup. After that we are planning to merge the U-17 and U-20 World Cups into a bigger one, the format will be changed to 48 teams competing and held annually. So, a big country like India can think of hosting a huge event like this alone or co-host with some other smaller countries,” Infantino said.