Despite Mumbai hosting its first football match in 61 years – India's thumping 4-1 win against Puerto Rico earlier this month – at the Andheri Sports Complex, the venue is out of reckoning for hosting any of the games in the coveted FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2017.
The organisers insist that the stadium is in fine shape, but the lack of training facilities in the crowded Mumbai suburb was reported as the reason for Mumbai missing out on hosting games in the youth tournament, which is seen as a major game-changer for football in the country.
"About a year ago, we met the Andheri venue’s authorities, local organising committee member Javier Ceppi was quoted as saying in a report by Hindustan Times. "We have been in touch with them and we sent the all the requirements to make their facility compliant. It’s a good football stadium and is located at the heart of the city."
The report added that the stadium would be used as a training base for teams coming into India. "Teams will certainly be coming to the country before the World Cup. This will be much before we have to allocate teams with training sites. We will be looking to allocate Andheri as one of the arenas for one of the pre-competition training camps. It’s close to hotels where teams can have their base camps,” Ceppi said.
Navi Mumbai's state-of-the-art DY Patil Stadium has been provisionally selected as one of the venues of the tournament. Ceppi claimed that FIFA announced the multi-purpose stadium as the best in the country. "The venue in Navi Mumbai is quite on track. During FIFA’s last inspection in February, they found that DY Patil was the best stadium in the country from amongst all they had seen. We’re hoping to get all the venues to the standard of DY Patil. The Navi Mumbai venue does not require renovations which are too comprehensive. The only major change is that the venue had two dressing rooms, but FIFA regulations state that every venue needs four. So, two more are being created,” Ceppi added.
The 2017 U-17 World Cup, which will be played between September and October next year, is the first time India is hosting an international football tournament. The final list of venues is slated to be announced in October.