FIFA, LOC happy with preparations in Navi Mumbai

Mumbai: A delegation of FIFA officials and Local Organizing Committee (LOC) members visited the D.Y. Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Sunday to have a look at the preparations for next years FIFA U-17 women's World Cup.

Roma Khanna, Tournament Director of the LOC, was pleased with the preparations here and said: “After a stellar emblem launch in the state, we are happy to be at the D.Y. Patil Stadium. The venue is already well-versed with the requirements of hosting a FIFA tournament and we only need some minor tweaking to improve from 2017.

“Women’s football is already popular in Maharashtra, which is why it is very important to see it being promoted even more, especially in Navi Mumbai and Mumbai. We are happy to know that there are concrete plans as well as key initiatives that are shaping up to create holistic growth for women’s football within the state. Now it is all about launching them.”

FIFA’s Project Lead for the tournament, Oliver Vogt, too expressed her satisfaction with the preparations at the venue.

“The existing infrastructure here in Navi Mumbai is good. What is also very important for us is that we have a very experienced and operationally strong team here which has already hosted a FIFA World Cup. It is human nature to want to do better every time, and that’s what we’d like to do here to make sure we can provide the best experience for all the teams,” she said.

Vijay Patil, President of D.Y. Patil Sports Academy, said: “The entire team is very excited at the prospect of hosting the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, especially after having such an outstanding experience in 2017. We want to put our best foot forward next year and will happy to make any adjustments that might be required.”

Navi Mumbai was the final venue to be inspected by the FIFA-LOC delegation. The next official FIFA inspection is scheduled next year to ascertain the progress on the pending works and operational planning for the U-17 Women’s World Cup which will be played between November 2 and 21, 2020. IANS

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