The decision to award the rights to India was taken at the FIFA Council meeting in Miami on Friday (March 15).
India will take part in the tournament for the first time in its history.
India were awarded the rights to host the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup in 2020. The decision to award the rights to India was taken at the FIFA Council meeting in Miami on Friday (March 15).
By virtue of being the host country, India will take part in the tournament for the first time in its history. In 2017, India had hosted the Under-17 Men’s FIFA World Cup.
“I would like to thank FIFA for keeping their trust in us and granting us the rights to host the tournament. I am also grateful to the Government of India and the State Governments for their support and providing us the necessary assurances which made winning this bid a reality,” AIFF President Praful Patel said.
“We felt the football evolution which India attained in the FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017 needed to continue, and as part of AIFF’s commitment towards development of Women’s Football, we decided to bid for the U-17 Women’s World Cup. The tournament will be massive as this time it will also galvanise the girls of the country, making it more popular,” he added.
Earlier, the AIFF had expressed keenness to host the tournament after the success of the FIFA Under-17 World Cup for men in 2017.
Speaking on the mega event the AIFF president said, “However, winning the bid was a lesser challenge. The bigger challenge of hosting the showpiece actually lies ahead, especially after the standards which we have set for ourselves in the FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017.”
AIFF general secretary Kushal Das had confirmed the development to the Indian Express and said, “We want to bid for the under-17 women’s world cup and wanted to understand the procedure. The government had come out with some guidelines in January 2018 so we will send them a letter accordingly,” Das said.
“This will give a great boost to women’s football,” he added.
From the very beginning, India was given a go-ahead by the government, to submit their bid to host the 2020 U-17 Women’s World Cup in India.
The women’s under-17 World Cup has 16 nations and Das had said that they can host matches at ‘just four cities’. Like the men’s under-17 World Cup, the women’s edition, too, has to be held in October and November.
However, financial hurdles still remain as the government is yet to take a call on the financial components of the event.
The Indian women’s national team is currently taking part in the SAFF Women’s Championship where it kicked off its campaign with a resounding 6-0 win over Maldives at the Sahid Rangashala Stadium on Wednesday.
