Kolkata: FIFA president Gianni Infantino and Head of Competitions Jaime Yarza both hailed India’s organisational capabilities for successfully organising the U-17 World Cup, here Thursday.
“India is a football country now,” Infantino declared after arriving here to chair the FIFA Council meeting Friday and attend the U-17 World Cup final.
AIFF vice-president Subrata Dutta received Infantino at the airport and later in the day the FIFA boss will have an informal meeting with the AIFF supremo Praful Patel.
According to sources, there could be discussions on India’s bid for the U-20 World Cup in 2019, chances of which have brightened after the overwhelming success of U-17 World Cup which is all set to topple China-1985 as the best-attended event in the tournament’s history.
Meanwhile, Yarza addressing a press conference, along with Patel, said the infrastructure provided for the first ever FIFA tournament was world-class and all the teams were happy with the organisation.
“The figures speak of themselves, it is going to be the most attended U-17 World Cup. On the field, the matches were of high quality, played in high speed and technically also it was of high class. It has been a fantastic tournament and India has delivered it. It shows that India is a football nation in every sense,” Yarza stated.
“We want to commend all the six host venues for the successful hosting of the tournament. All the teams are happy and the coaches told us that training sites were of top level. They are also satisfied regarding accommodation, food and transportation,” he added.
