Kolkata: FIFA Under-17 World Cup tournament director Javier Ceppi said here Sunday that the event has been a massive success and the spectator turnout has already beaten the figures achieved during the 2011 cricket World Cup. Ceppi added that with the tournament drawing huge number of spectators, the ‘doors are open’ for India to host the Under-20 World Cup in 2019.
Taking a 36-match cut-off after the end of group stages, Ceppi said the spectator-mark has crossed a phenomenal 8,00,000 which is more than the 2011 Cricket World Cup, and double than what the last edition of the U-17 event in Chile had witnessed.
“This was a make or break. If you had failed to deliver then the doors would have closed definitely. Now the doors remain open. How it’s done in the future we need to see,” Ceppi told reporters here, Sunday.
Ceppi also added that the average crowd for the India matches has been 49,000. “It’s huge. We really feel that football has taken over and that’s the reality,” he said.
Ceppi sounded confident that the infrastructures which are coming up in Ahmadabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Bhubaneswar and Trivandrum would help India in spreading out a global event like a World Cup.
Press trust of India
