FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup hoping to have fans in the stadium: LOC tournament director

CHENNAI: The Under-17 Women’s World Cup is likely to be the first international tournament to be hosted by India in a post-Covid world.
While the 17-team tournament scheduled for a February 17 start next year is still eight months away, doubts still remain over whether fans will be allowed entry into the stadiums.
But tournament director of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) Roma Khanna allayed those fears.“The event will be among the first global sporting tournaments that will take place post-COVID. It's a huge opportunity for us to showcase that India is prepared for any challenge. We’re absolutely certain to having fans come to the stadium, and providing them with a safe environment. For that we will be definitely taking all the sanitisation and precautionary measures,” Khanna told TOI.
It is expected that the new football season in Europe might see fans allowed for matches. Khanna said the LOC will follow the blueprint of top European as well as Asian leagues in order to open up the games for the supporters. “LOC and FIFA will be monitoring everything very closely once all the leagues resume, not only in Europe but also Asia. While we will certainly pick up the best practices to create a safe environment, we will also explore solutions that are India-centric and can be effectively implemented across the host cities,” she said.
The LOC and FIFA are also planning to celebrate the spirit of Corona warriors — frontline workers and survivors — through various programmes, some of which might start from August itself in the lead up to the event. “We have a number of events planned leading up to the tournament. But we had to put on hold some of our programmes like Football For All due to Covid. We are soon planning to restart those in the host cities. We will certainly celebrate our COVID warriors and survivors through some of the legacy programs,” Khanna told TOI.
The tournament will be hosted across five venues — Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Guwahati, Kolkata and Navi Mumbai. Apart from the teams travelling with their respective contingent, the World Cup often witnesses a large number of foreign delegates visiting the country. With the country easing the restrictions on flight travel, Khanna remains optimistic about handling the logistics. “Given the number of hotel rooms, transport, medical, stadiums and training facilities required for a World Cup with 16 teams, it was not possible to organise the tournament in just one city. So we have to spread it across five venues. But we remain positive and confident that together with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports we will work out the best solution. For us, this WC is a chance to show the country the potential of women’s football. We won’t leave any stone unturned to deliver a successful event,” said Khanna.