Goa Looks for U-17 World Cup Final

The Goa Football Association is remaining hopeful that Goa will be sanctioned the right to host the FIFA Under-17 World Cup Final in 2017. A two – member delegation from FIFA visited eight stadiums all across the country including the Nehru Stadium in Fatorda and although the governing body for world football has not yet presented their feedback back to India, the Goa Football Association has been given ample morale boost asserted by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar that Goa is willing to do “whatever it takes” to be a part of the major sporting event.

GFA President Shrinivas Dempo told an Indian daily this weekend that when the delegates had come for the visit, they had actually pitched them with the proposal of hosting the final in Goa. This seems to be a real exciting moment for the Indian football teams as they are gearing themselves to meet the FIFA U-17 World Cup which has been scheduled to be hosted in India in 2017. This is an achievement in its own terms as All India Football Federation (AIFF) has been successful in winning the bid. Not only so, acknowledgements coming from FIFA President Sepp Blatter calling India ‘sleeping giant’ in football has also added much to the motivation and enthusiasm. Under the leadership of AIFF President Praful Patel, the organisation is marching towards its success track with much glory as they prepare themselves to meet a greater competition at an international arena.

Praful Patel Contributions in terms of AIFF’s development have been highly applauded by Asian Football Confederation (AFC) as this eminent body thinks that the former is shaping up great strategies to take football to an escalated level and also professionalising the sport by sticking to their commitments and passing impartial verdict when it comes to sanctioning club licenses. The saga of achievements continues to enthral the young footballers with the recent invitation of AFC at the UEFA Study Group Scheme, a workshop that focussed on the Grass Roots Programs, to be implemented on a regular basis to popularize football from an elementary standard. The event has been attended to most important members, All India Football Federation’s Development Manager (Grassroots) Suvrat Thatte and Assistant Development Manager (Grassroots) Ms. Anjana Turambekar from AIFF who represented AFC at this event.