New Delhi will not play host to any Fifa Under-17 World Cup games after October 16, reported the Indian Express. World football’s governing body took the decision due to the high level of air pollution in the capital during Diwali, which falls on October 19 this year. The decision was taken to ensure the players don’t take ill because of the pollution. Fifa has allotted Delhi games until October 16, which will be a double header, round-of-16 clash.
According to the official schedule, the semi-finals will be held in Guwahati and Navi Mumbai, on October 25, and the final at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on October 28.
Fifa’s head of events, Jaime Yarza, said that the pollution levels post-Diwali was the reason due to which Delhi missed out on knockout games. “This [pollution and Diwali] has been taken into account,” he said.
Fifa’s medical board had been studying pollution patterns in Delhi during and after Diwali, with the Local Organising Committee seeking data from the Central Pollution Control Board.
“Until Diwali, October is decent, you can play,” Javier Ceppi, tournament director, said. “But after Diwali, it [pollution] shoots to a level that is extremely, extremely unhealthy.”
In 2016, post-Diwali, air pollution in Delhi was the worst in the past five years.