India hosting U-17 FIFA World Cup :
The 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup is the 17th FIFA U-17 World Cup, a biennial international football tournament contested by men’s under-17 national teams. Organized by FIFA, the tournament is taking place in India between October 6 and October 28, after the country was awarded the hosting rights on 5 December 2013. The tournament marks the first time India have hosted a FIFA tournament and the first Asian hosted U-17 World Cup since 2013.
The matches are being played in six stadiums in six host cities around the country, with the final taking place at the Salt Lake Stadium in Calcutta, West Bengal. Twenty-three teams, besides the host India, managed to qualify for the tournament, they will compete in round-robin groups of four teams for points, with the top two teams in each group proceeding while the top four third placed teams will also advance. These 16 teams will advance to the knockout stage, where three rounds of play will decide which teams would participate in the final.
The reigning FIFA U-17 World Cup champions, Nigeria, miss this edition. This is no surprise. The Asian representatives are Japan, Iran, Iraq, North Korea and hosts India.
Meanwhile, Iran amazingly trounced world football’s power house Germany 4-0 on Tuesday to sail into the knock-out stage of 16 nations. Besides, Paraguay, United States and Brazil cruised into the second round.
Teams like Argentina, Italy and Holland missed the competition failing to qualify. Bangladesh junior teams recently registered good results, showing prospect to play in the world level tournament. Special attention is needed.
Abdullah Akber
Dhaka
The 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup is the 17th FIFA U-17 World Cup, a biennial international football tournament contested by men’s under-17 national teams. Organized by FIFA, the tournament is taking place in India between October 6 and October 28, after the country was awarded the hosting rights on 5 December 2013. The tournament marks the first time India have hosted a FIFA tournament and the first Asian hosted U-17 World Cup since 2013.
The matches are being played in six stadiums in six host cities around the country, with the final taking place at the Salt Lake Stadium in Calcutta, West Bengal. Twenty-three teams, besides the host India, managed to qualify for the tournament, they will compete in round-robin groups of four teams for points, with the top two teams in each group proceeding while the top four third placed teams will also advance. These 16 teams will advance to the knockout stage, where three rounds of play will decide which teams would participate in the final.
The reigning FIFA U-17 World Cup champions, Nigeria, miss this edition. This is no surprise. The Asian representatives are Japan, Iran, Iraq, North Korea and hosts India.
Meanwhile, Iran amazingly trounced world football’s power house Germany 4-0 on Tuesday to sail into the knock-out stage of 16 nations. Besides, Paraguay, United States and Brazil cruised into the second round.
Teams like Argentina, Italy and Holland missed the competition failing to qualify. Bangladesh junior teams recently registered good results, showing prospect to play in the world level tournament. Special attention is needed.
Abdullah Akber
Dhaka
