The Union Minster of Sports and Youth Affairs congratulated the AIFF and Praful Patel for getting the U17 World Cup hosting rights once again…
The honourable Union Minister of Sporting and Youth Affairs Kiren Rijiju interacted with the members of the India U17 Women’s World Cup squad in a virtual session organised by the All India Football Federation (AIFF). AIFF president Praful Patel too was present at the meeting
The Union Minister interacted with several players from the squad and mentioned that he was looking forward to gathering feedback from the players which will help the central government to further contribute to the sport.
“I want to thank the All India Football Federation (AIFF) for organising this virtual meeting with all the players. I want to meet all the girls of the U17 team personally and listen to them as it is very important for the players to speak which will help me and the government of India to gather information on what can we do more for the development of the sport.”
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The U17 World Cup was supposed to be held in November 2020 initially, only for the pandemic to force a change in schedule. FIFA then revised the schedule and the tournament was to be held in February and March in 2021
After discussion with several stakeholders, FIFA decided to take a ‘health and safety first’ approach and cancel the tournament. India was then selected as the host nation for the 2022 edition.
Rijiju advised the players to remain motivated despite the cancellation of the competition and also congratulated Praful Patel and the Indian FA for successfully getting the hosting rights of the World Cup once again from FIFA.
“Our U17 team which is together at this time, I am sure they will be disappointed that the World Cup got postponed but I hope they don’t get demotivated and their spirit does not go down. They are just under 17 and their career has just begun.
“The World Cup which got cancelled is not because of anyone’s fault, it is because of the global pandemic. But the tournament will be held in 2022 and once again India has been chosen as the host. So I want to congratulate Praful Patel and the entire team who managed to convince FIFA to get the hosting rights again.
“I assure you that there will be full support be it financially, manpower or anything that is required. The only thing I am sad about is that some of the girls from the current U17 squad will not be able to play in 2022 due to age bar. But I must say that the girls should not lose heart because after this there is the U20 level and then senior team. They are the future. I assure full support from the government,” said the sports minister.
Rijiju also said that he hopes the women’s national team plays the World Cup very soon as they are ranked much higher than the men’s team in the FIFA rankings and also added that it is very important for the country to become a footballing nation.
“I know that the Indian women’s team is higher ranked than the men’s team and this proves that we can qualify for World Cup even if we are not the hosts and I believe that in near future we will make it to the Women’s World Cup.
“Football is the biggest sport in the world and we cannot afford to be left behind. If India wants to be a sporting powerhouse we have to grow in football. We have to promote football.”
