FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017 : Will India Get The Opportunity To Host This Prestigious Tournament?

India is the second most populous country in the world and the World Champions of Cricket but when there’s a talk about the world’s most viewed sport – Football, we are nowhere to be seen. India presently sits at 169th place in the FIFA rankings and have not been able to participate in any of the major competitions of football at a world class level, leave apart the opportunity to host one. The reasons for this might be the dominance of cricket over any other sport in India and the much patriarchal nature of the people towards cricket along with the lack of government support.
However presently, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) has been working really hard in correlation with the government in preparing the bid for hosting the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017 in India. Airtel I-League CEO Mr.Sunando Dhar submitted the bid documents to FIFA’s Director of Competitions Division Mr. Mustapha Fahmy at the FIFA Headquarters in Zurich on Tuesday.

The important steps for the bidding process were :
1. The first step towards this venture was to submit a declaration of interest by May 15 which had been done by India, Uzbekistan, South Africa, Ireland and Azerbaijan.
2. The second and final step was to submit the hosting agreement with the complete bid book by November 15 which has been completed already by Uzbekistan, South Africa, Ireland before India did the same.
The final decision on the host country will be taken at the FIFA Executive Committee meeting which is scheduled to be held on December 3.

Pre-requisites for final bidding :

The bidding countries are required to submit written guarantees on tax exemptions for broadcasters and sponsors, foreign exchange remittances, security, transport and accommodation of players and provision of visas. In total, the guarantees are on 8 different heads and needs to approved by the several ministries of the respective country’s government in coordination with the sports ministry. These assurances until guaranteed to FIFA, the bidding would not be considered valid.

Motivation factor for India to bid for the Mega event :

The decision to bid for hosting the 52-match U-17 World Cup expected to be held in the cities of Delhi, Kolkata, Guwahati, Mumbai, Margao and Kochi provided India wins the bid, has been very strongly supported by the FIFA president Sepp Blatter right from the start of this whole process. In a visit to the country in 2012, FIFA President Sepp Blatter and then his secretary Jerome Valcke, supported India hosting the event, provided it builds the required infrastructure and facilities.  Some words he spoke during that visit - “To wake up a sleeping giant you need several alarm clocks. We have set up several alarm clocks to monitor them. I am in my 30th year in FIFA and 13th year as the president. My tenure ends in 2015 but I won’t leave FIFA until I see the sport established in the sub-continent of India,” replied an assuring Blatter.
Apart from this, India has bid to host the 2015 World Club Cup. Both the Tournaments would provide an excellent opportunity for our players to rub shoulders with the best of the World,” said AIFF president Praful Patel, on the dual bids, with agreement from Blatter.
A strong support has also been provided by the government in building up the infrastructure required and in getting the required permissions from the various ministries. While the expenses of hosting the event will be borne by FIFA and AIFF, the government has assured additional financial assistance.

"While the expenditure for upgradation of stadia (Rs 95 crore) will be provided as additional central assistance to the State Governments, a sum of Rs 25 crore is kept as a contingency to ensure smooth conduct of the tournament," the Ministry had said in a statement.

Not confident, says Bhaichung Bhutia, former Indian captain & 3-time AIFF player of the year winner :
Although, there have been so many positives towards this build up and the Indian government has finally shown some seriousness towards promoting Football, Indian football icon Bhaichung Bhutia says he doesn’t have confidence in India’s U-17 world cup bid.
Some of the problems cited by him were :
1.  We are a big country and elections are not far away so there are a lot of issues and I don’t feel the government has supported the bid the way it could have. It’s great we have bid and it will be huge if we host it but I doubt whether we will get the chance eventually.
2. No difference between the South-Asian teams where India used to be a super power before. They have all grown leaps and bounce since football is their number one sport there so they get full support from their government. In India, cricket is the only big sport and gets the backing from government but football and many other sports doesn’t.
3. He also talked about increasing the number of teams from 13 to 16 in the I-league, India’s domestic league, with decreased quota of foreign players in the starting eleven so as to develop the domestic talent. He urged for better facilities and infrastructure, better coaching and youth development programs for players to learn from a tender age.

Potential steps being taken to promote football in India and the future ahead :
All India Football Federation (AIFF) has restructured their administration and money has been poured into the game. The AFC have also worked hard to professionalize football in India, namely the $8 million “Win in India” project by FIFA and establishment of a number of regional and elite academies have come up.  A 10 year development programme named “Lakshya 2022” has been undertaken by AIFF with the sole purpose of forming a team which could qualify for 2022 Qatar World Cup. Various corporate houses have been investing a lot over the years for the development of this sport prominent ones being the “Airtel Rising Star” initiative by Airtel in a partnership with the Best English club – Manchester United, Reliance IMG buying broadcasting rights from AIFF for marketing of Indian football for the next 15 years, “Conscient” football group by Barcelona, Europe’s most successful club. Good football matches have been played in India recently with the likes of world class players like Messi, Aguero, Di Maria, Higuain and the Bayern Munich football team and many more planned in the pipeline.
Now it all depends on the decision which would be taken by FIFA during their meeting to be held on December 3. If at all, India wins the bid to host the U-17 World Cup 2017, it would be a big big boost for Indian Football and definitely the future would be very bright ahead.