“There is no room for 'jugaad'” - FIFA events chief on India's U-17 WC prep

02/21/2016

126

Jamie Yarza, Events chief and head of FIFA venues inspection committee, has expressed his dissatisfaction with the progress in renovation of the prospective venues for the upcoming 2017 U-17 FIFA World Cup. Yarza also did not miss the chance to take a dig at Delhi's lack of support for football.

"The FIFA delegation is very satisfied with the planning until now. However, we have seen nothing yet. All the stadiums need major renovations to make them ready for the World Cup. The deadline for the construction to finish is October 2016. The state and central government need to put planning into motion, start working and putting everything in place,” Jamie Yarza was quoted as saying by the Goal.com.

Back in 2013, FIFA announced that India will host the 2017 U-17 World Cup. Delhi, Kolkata, Navi Mumbai, Margao, Kochi and Guwahati will host the matches, but Yarza pointed out that most of the stadiums are far from the state in which they are expected to be at this point.

“As of today, only the DY Patil stadium (Navi Mumbai) has the quality that we require. It being a cricket stadium, there still is some work that need to be done, but the quality of the stadium is really good.

"Most of the dressing rooms are small. We require two fully functional dressing rooms that can accommodate all the members (of the squads), plus two additional dressing rooms. In most of the stadium, they need to be constructing this,” he added.

Yarza also revealed that Kolkata's iconic Salt Lake Stadium is likely to be awarded the final of the World Cup, considering the popularity of the sport in the state. He said, “Being a football state, Kolkata might get the final. It has a rich history in football. We are more interested in having a full stadium than a huge stadium.“

Yarza stressed that FIFA will not hesitate to move games from the shortlisted venues, if the stadiums are not ready in time for the tournament.

“There is no room for 'jugaad'. This culture has to change. You don't have to run at the last minute. The last 16 months has been about changing the culture. We are happy with the progress that has been made. Now, implementation, which is the real part, needs to start,

"We have visited Chennai, Pune, Bangalore. But we all know the stadium situation in Bangalore (The stadium is being rebuilt). I have also been to Ahmedabad. There are many metropolitan centres and many states that can step up. If any of the (shortlisted) venues lag, there are options. That is a very strong message to the state and the central government," he said.

The FIFA official also took a dig at the lack of passion for the sport in India's capital. He said, “The criteria for choosing certain cities depended on two factors: readiness and willingness. Readiness includes the infrastructure, the operational planning among other stuff. The second one is Willingness. If I look at the matches the Delhi Dynamos played here (in the ISL), the average attendance was just around 10,000. Delhi is not showing real willingness in connection with football. I know there is passion for football in north India, but they need to show it”.

Also read, What ISL should learn from the tale of New York Cosmos.