India will host the U-17 Women's World Cup in 2020, International Football Federation (FIFA) President Gianni Infantino announced on Friday.
“We are delighted to announce that India has been confirmed as the host of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in 2020,” Infantino said after the FIFA Council meeting in Miami, USA,
This will be the second FIFA tournament India will be hosting, after the U-17 Men's World Cup in 2017.
Confirming the development, All India Football Federation General Secretary Kushal Das told PTI: "We are thankful to FIFA for giving the right to host the U-17 Women's World Cup. This will raise the profile of women's football in the country.
“We have been giving a lot of emphasis on the development of women’s football in the country. So we bid for the U-17 Women’s World Cup and now we have got it.”Kushal Das, General Secretary, All India Football Federation
The bidding process for the tournament started last year. France had also expressed interest to host the tournament.
Das said the venues to host the mega event will be decided soon. "We have four-five venues in mind and we will finalise them soon," said Das.
As host country, India automatically qualifies for the 16-team showpiece event. The six continental qualifying tournaments are yet to begin.
Besides the U-17 Women's WC, India had also expressed interest in hosting the U-20 Women's World Cup.
The U-17 women’s tournament began in 2008, when New Zealand hosted it. Spain are the current champions and they had beaten Mexico 2-1 in the final in Uruguay last year. The tournament in India will be the seventh edition.
Asian teams are the most successful teams in the tournament, with North Korea (2008 and 2016) having won it twice while Japan (2014) and South Korea (2010) had won it once each.
France (2012) and Spain (2018) are the only non-Asian teams to have won the tournament.
(With inputs from PTI)
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