In last March, India has earned the hosting rights of the 2020 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has recently designed a strong plan to build up a competitive junior women’s team for this tournament. The Goal has confirmed that the Sports Authority of India (SAI) has approved this plan.
On 15th March 2019, during the FIFA Council meeting at Miami, India has earned the hosting rights of 2020 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.
The upcoming tournament will be the second FIFA tournament in India after the successful 2017 FIFA U-17 Men’s World Cup. India organised that tournament from 6th to 28th October 2017. Though the Indian colts finished that tournament without gaining a point, they played very competitive football.
SAI has approved AIFF’s INR 14 crore budget plan
Once again the AIFF members are getting ready to build up a reliable young women team to compete in the upcoming FIFA tournament. In their latest plan, the AIFF has budgeted INR 14 crores, and the SAI has sanctioned the same amount.
The AIFF has a plan to tour at least six or seven countries ahead of the World Cup where the young women will participate in several international matches. They are also planning to host a four-nation tournament ahead of the big competition.
The AIFF will also use the allocated budget for the Indian coaching and arranging the world-class equipment for the junior team.
AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das told Goal, “We are very thankful to the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports (MYAS) and SAI for their great support to Indian football.”
He further added, “We have a very progressive Sports Minister (Mr.Kiren Rijiju), Secretary of Sports (Radhey Shyam Julaniya) and the new Director General of SAI (Sandip Pradhan). Indian sports is in good hands.”
A total of 16 teams from six confederations will participate in the 2020 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. This tournament is likely to run from September to October 2020.