Kolkata: In spite of hailing the success of the FIFA U-17 World Cup in India, the world football governing body chief Gianni Infantino refused to give any commitment as to whether the country will get the chance to host the 2019 U-20 World Cup. The AIFF has submitted the bid to host the 2019 event.
“The FIFA U-17 World Cup in India is a resounding success with some records broken. Keeping in mind its size India can safely be called a ‘football continent’. The way the (FIFA U-17) World Cup has been perceived by the people of India has been amazing,” said Infantino during a media conference.
Asked whether FIFA will consider India’s bid to host the 2019 U-20 World Cup, the FIFA chief remained non-committal.
“We have received request from several countries expressing desire to host the 2019 U-20 World Cup. Now the FIFA administration will analyse this and present it (a report) to the FIFA Council early next year (for a decision),” Infantino informed.
“This is for the 2019 U-20 World Cup. After that we are planning to merge the U-17 and U-20 World Cups into a bigger one, the format will be changed to 48 teams competing and held annually. So, a big country like India can think of hosting a huge event like this alone or co-host with some other smaller countries,” Infantino added.
Infantino, however, made it clear that the Indian team will need to work harder as there was a gap between the home players and those of other countries.
Press Trust of India
