In a few months, India will witness its biggest ever football event. The Under-17 Fifa World Cup is scheduled to begin on October 6. Six Indian cities, namely Kolkata, Kochi, New Delhi, Navi Mumbai, Guwahati and Margao, will play hosts to what could be a game-changer for the beautiful game in India.

It will be the first time an Indian team will play at a football World Cup. But more than, the build-up has been unprecedented. Javier Ceppi, the tournament director of the local organising committee of the event spoke to Scroll.in about the preparations for the mega-event.

What is the latest update on the preparations for the Fifa Under-17 World Cup that India will host in October?

Currently, we are on track to complete most of the facilities and the major infrastructure works by the end of March. That is the deadline that has been given to all the state governments and facility owners. There will be some minor touches that will be completed nearer to the tournament. Painting is one example – the reason being that the monsoon may affect the paint. But that is a finishing touch, nothing core. We are on track to complete everything by the end of March.

In general, are you happy with the readiness of India for the tournament?

It has been a three-year process since India were awarded the tournament. It was a process to make everyone involved, understand that things do not happen overnight. That is a big cultural issue, because India is very good at implementation and so there is a tendency to skip planning phases.

India does things at the moment of implementation. In that sense, we are happy with what has been achieved so far and we are satisfied with how the preparations are going. We have been discussing with a number of ministries and different stakeholders – they are all saying that this looks like the most in advance prepared tournament that India will have ever hosted. The venues will be practically match-ready by the end of March. That is seven months before the tournament and that is not common in India.

What was the thought process behind the selection of the venues? Bengaluru lost out, after all.

There are a number of contractual obligations that state governments have to deliver. Those six state governments – Assam, Goa, Kerala, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Delhi – were the ones to sign the contracts. Karnataka also signed the contract, but, unfortunately, they never got around the fact that the stadium they had – the Sree Kanteerava stadium – did not meet the requirements. They had to renovate the Sree Kanteerava heavily or rely on the construction of an entirely new stadium, which to date, did not happen.

Those six venues are complying with all the requirements contractually, but also, more importantly, with the infrastructural requirements. They are fully on board with the event and very supportive, that is the third part. We have monthly review meetings, sometimes even on a bi-weekly basis. When you have venues that are fully on board with the project, things happen in a much easier way and the delivery of the event does not get affected.

India is notorious for having a stifling bureaucracy with many layers of red tape. How difficult has it been to navigate through all that to organise a tournament of this magnitude?

You have to understand the particularities of India. The states are very strong. It is the first time that a junior World Cup is going to six venues, where the official language of each venue is different. That tells you something about the complexity – whatever works or whatever cultural appreciations they have in Kochi is very different from Assam, where you have Guwahati.

Paperwork has doubled. You agree centrally, but you also need to agree on a state level. The support of the prime minister has been very good. He has spoken a number of times about the tournament and he issued a message to the nation on January 12, establishing the complete support of the Indian government for the tournament. The state governments, the local authorities, are fully committed. That helps, not only with delivering the event, but also with the planning process and the red tape. I can’t lie and say that it has just been a joyride, but, so far, everything has worked.

Your biggest challenge is the sheer geographical magnitude of India?

Yes, the magnitude of the country is challenging. We are doing an event in a sub-continent. Everywhere you go, it is quite different. Kolkata is different from Assam and different from Kochi. It also means a lot of air miles and a lot of travelling to monitor everything. At the same time, those particularities of India and the distinct culture of each place are also the beauty of it.

In his statement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted “Mission XI Million”, could that be one of the legacies of the tournament?

He mentioned it. It is a project by the AIFF, the All India Football Federation, and the Indian government. The idea is to reach out to eleven million children. We are taking advantage of the groundswell in football, because of the U17 World Cup. One of the government’s commitments to host the event is that they will promote football. We are taking advantage of that commitment and we are going to schools to reach out. If Indian football is to revolutionise, it will be because of Mission XI Million. It is getting children to know and play the game. That can make a big difference.

What are you doing in terms of promotion and marketing for the event?

We are waiting for the key events, the draw. Up until this moment, only five teams have qualified: India and the four Asian teams – Iran, Iraq, North Korea and Japan. Those teams have qualified so far. We will go quite local, because of the geography. Social media is huge and it is a good way to reach our target audience – the kids.

At the end of the day, India has never played in a World Cup, let alone hosted one. It is this generation, the 15-17-year-old kids, who will, for the first time, experience India playing at the World Cup. Their peers will play, so we will try to talk directly to that generation, which is the new India as well.

How important will India’s performance be then for the tournament?

The hosts are always important and this tournament is no different. It is the first time India is participating in a World Cup – of any category, women’s or men’s. India has to show that it can play in a World Cup and that it can be competitive - that it deserves to play in a World Cup.

That was important in the AFC qualifiers. India had a decent performance. They drew against Saudi Arabia. They narrowly lost against the United Arab Emirates and Iran, who ended up as runners-up. The coach and everyone feels that the team must compete. The results are not so important in the sense that the team can show the nation that they can stand up, play against other more developed football nations, look them in the eye and say “let’s play”. That is important for the tournament and the overall attitude of Indian football.

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How will you set ticket prices to make the tournament accessible in the first place?

That is a very big and important factor. We have not officially disclosed the ticket prices yet, but they will be very affordable – maybe a fraction of the cost of the tickets for the movies, cheaper than tickets for other sporting events. The whole idea is to attract as many people as possible to experience a World Cup. It will be quite economical. The price of the tickets should not prevent anyone from going to the stadium. That is our main criteria.

You were involved in the organisation of the U17 World Cups in Chile and the UAE. What can one expect from the sporting action?

I went to Chile to watch the tournament. I was involved in the group stages before returning to India. I spoke to many club presidents of Chilean professional clubs – clubs, who had Alexis Sanchez, Arturo Vidal, Claudio Bravo, etc. in their ranks – and they told me that most of the teams in the U17 World Cup would beat their clubs.

The level of play is amazing. It is very good and I am not only talking about the Nigerias of this world. Belgium was extremely good. Mexico tends to do well. It is becoming more and more difficult for Brazil and others to win this World Cup or get to the final stages, because the tournament has become more competitive. It will be the best live football that India has seen – hands down, better than any professional match ever played in India. The pace of the game at the U17 World Cup is so fast.

If the event goes well, is there a chance that India can host bigger football events in the future? The AIFF has repeatedly hinted at hosting the Under-20 World Cup.

The AIFF has been vocal about the fact that they would like to host future tournaments. An U17 World Cup is big in its own right, but before getting into that discussion you need to first focus on delivering this tournament up to standard. If you don’t deliver it well, this discussion becomes futile.

It is extremely important that this event goes well. That will open the door to other tournaments. For the AIFF it is important to host other tournaments, get the exposure and give the Indian national team exposure. It is part of the overall development plan they have.

Come the final, when will the tournament have been a success?

If the tournament has created a change for football in India. You can’t know that in the short term, but you have to evaluate that in the long run. In terms of the delivery of the event, the same benchmark applies as for other tournaments – a seamless delivery, without any issues, and, hopefully, with full stadiums. That is a big task in India, because of the sheer size of the stadiums. The smallest stadium has a capacity of 19,000, the biggest one a capacity of 85,000. Four out of the six stadiums are 50,000 plus. It is a task ahead, but that is another benchmark. Again, there are the short term objectives and the long term objectives, which will be crucial for the progress and development of football in India.