Fifa Head of Events Jaime Yarza on Saturday expressed his satisfaction with the progress of preparations at the DY Patil Stadium, earmarked to be one of the venues for the Under-17 World Cup in October.
The delegation accompanied by members of the Local Organising Committee visited the stadium to assess the progress of preparations at the Navi Mumbai venue on Saturday.
“I said last year that I was happy with the stadium and I haven’t changed my mind,” Yarza said. “It is a fantastic stadium and most of the work which we have requested to be able to host four teams and all the logistical organisational aspects of the World Cup have been completed,” Yarza told reporters after the inspection visit.
“In that sense we have no worry (and) everything will be in place. The new dressing rooms are of very high quality and we are very happy with all the preparations. This will be one of the best stadiums in the country to the host the matches and we are proud to be here,” he said.
He said some work, which are temporary in nature, are to be completed at the venue.
Javier Ceppi, tournament director of the LOC, informed that the Prime Minister’s Office was “watching” the (preparations) for the event and a report is being sent every Monday.
“This is by far the best stadium in the country at this point of time,” Ceppi said. “We need to make sure that every single other stadium is as good as this one. This is the standard. This is the standard the other stadiums have to get. And we will not accept anything less than this standard. Even then having this standard, they (venue managers) are willing to go overboard. They want to change the seats (for spectators),” he added.
DY Patil Sports Academy president Vijay Patil assured that training fields have also been developed for the event. “The stadium has undergone and will be undergoing revamps for some time to come. The sitting arrangement will be revamped till the time the World Cup comes, we have got new seats. Practice fields are being developed,” said Patil.
DY Patil is the only venue inspected so far, that has got a positive review from Fifa. The delegation had earlier raised various concerns after inspecting venues at New Delhi and Kochi.
Yarza refrained from confirming whether DY Patil Stadium would be awarded a marquee game or possibly the final of the tournament.
The World Cup is scheduled to begin on October 6 and will be played across six centres in India. The delegation will now travel to Guwahati before it concludes its inspection visit in Kolkata.
