FIFA Kicks Off U-17 Women’s World Cup Inspection In The City of Joy

India’s dream to empower women’s football in the country took major strides on Tuesday as an eight-member FIFA delegation led by Oliver Vogt, Project Lead of U-17 Women’s World Cup, landed in Kolkata for an official inspection to assess the progress and groundwork for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup India 2020. The FIFA delegation will stay in the city of joy till December 1 to keep a close eye on the preparations for the mega event.

Before commencing the inspection Oliver Vogt said that FIFA is looking forward to seeing how things are shaping up. He added that the governing body saw the potential of football in India in 2017 with the men’s edition and it was then they understood how big a success it was in Kolkata.

Vogt further emphasized that he was of the belief that every stakeholder will work hard to ensure the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup India 2020 is a success and that the tournament also makes its mark in the history of women’s football. Giving details about the inspection the Project Lead of U-17 Women’s World Cup informed that other than focusing on the infrastructure of the stadium and training sites, they are also interested to see the plans that the different locations have for the further development of women’s football in the country.

Joining the inspection was Roma Khanna, who is the Tournament Director of the Local Organising Committee, heaped praises the West Bengal government and CM Mamta Banerjee saying that the great support from the government made the men’s tournament in 2017 a huge success. She added that the enthusiasm that the CM of West Bengal shows for empowering women in the state makes her believe that FIFA will receive a similar kind of support as they got in 2017.

Anoop Kumar Agrawal, Principal Secretary to the state government, said that the government is as committed  as they were during the U-17 Men’s World Cup in 2017 and assured that the government will  make sure that they meet the standards they had set in the 2017 if not better it.