Chennai may not have made its big moves to get the 2017 under-17 FIFA World Cup but the championship officials who were in Kochi on Thursday, appear keen to have the Tamil Nadu capital as a host.
“Javier Ceppi (the Tournament Director) mentioned today that Kochi is one of his favourite venues but Chennai is his favourite,” Joy Bhattacharya, the Project Director of the under-17 World Cup, told The Hindu.
“It has the only FIFA-compliant stadium in the country and we have also had a look at the training venues.”
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“We are waiting for that big push, the Tamil Nadu Government guarantee, to get things moving in Chennai.”
That could be one reason why the FIFA has provisionally selected five venues, it could be waiting for Chennai to be the sixth to host the group phase. “Now that Jayalalithaa is back as the Chief Minister, things could happen very fast if she wants to,” said Bhattacharya.
Are the Tamil Nadu Government and the State football body TFA listening?
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