Kolkata’s Salt Lake Stadium will host the final of the FIFA U-17 World Cup on October 28, football’s world governing body announced on Monday.
The tournament will kick-off with games in New Delhi and Navi Mumbai on October 6. The quarter-finals will be in Goa, Guwahati, Kochi and Kolkata, while Guwahati and Navi Mumbai will host the semi-finals.
The announcement came following a week-long inspection tour of the six venues earmarked to host the tournament.
Speaking at the announcement of the match schedule, Head of FIFA Tournaments, Jaime Yarza said: “The match schedule has been created following a thorough analysis of players’ health, competition format, team movements, weather, local festivities, geography and other factors,” he said.
“Each venue will host at least eight matches, and we took existing infrastructure into account, as well as local enthusiasm, when allotting the matches.”
The Tournament Director of the Local Organising Committee Javier Ceppi added while introducing the official slogan: “In recognition of the increasing excitement about the beautiful game in India, ‘Football takes over’ was the first and most fitting choice as the official slogan for the tournament.”
Tournament hosts India automatically secured their place in the competition. Teams from sporting power houses like Brazil, Chile and Colombia have already booked their place in the event. Iran, Iraq, Japan and Korea DPR have qualified from Asia.
Teams representing countries from Europe, North and Central America and the Caribbean and Africa will qualify in the coming months.
The draw for the tournament will take place on July 7 in Mumbai.
