Five drawbacks of losing FIFA U-17 WWC on Indian football

Published at :August 18, 2022 at 8:29 PM

Modified at :December 13, 2023 at 1:01 PM

(Courtesy : AIFF Media)

As it stands, the country will not host this highly anticipated prestigious event.

A massive blow to Indian football took place in the early hours of Tuesday, 16 August 2022. The All India Football Federation (AIFF) was suspended by the FIFA. The suspension came after undue 'third-party influence' was observed in the functioning of the AIFF. The ongoing controversy about dissolving the AIFF Executive Committee by the Supreme Court of India for not holding elections and violating the National Sports Code was the starting piece in the domino that led to India losing the hosting rights to the 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. The Committee of Administrators (CoA) sought the advice of a group of advisors for drafting a new constitution. This was seen as third-party interference by the Bureau of the FIFA Council and thus, AIFF was suspended.

Perhaps the biggest loss due to the suspension was losing the hosting rights for the U-17 Women’s World Cup. Here is a look at how losing the right to host will affect Indian football.

A blow to the organizational image of India

India was the host country for the 2017 FIFA U-17 Men’s World Cup. It was a moment of massive pride for the country to host the event. The Indian football team was also a part of the competition and did well despite elimination in the group stages. The event was smoothly and immaculately organized.

**The ticket sales for the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup started on 5th August. (Courtesy: FIFA)**

India has managed to host major events like the 2010 Commonwealth Games and the 2022 AFC Asian Cup recently. Losing the rights to host the 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup will hurt an image built over multiple years.

Setback for women’s football in the country

Women’s football in India has seen a major push in recent times. The unrelenting work by stakeholders and advocates of women’s football in India has been impressive. The Indian Women’s League has been successful and brought a lot of women footballers into the limelight.

Several Indian Super League clubs have also been busy setting up their women’s teams. The future seemed bright but the news of AIFF’s suspension is set to affect the same. The U-17 Women’s World Cup was expected to be a shot in the arm and a platform to young female footballers to stamp their authority.

Wasting precious years of the players

A major setback from this controversy will be the loss of opportunity for the players. A football career is short and time plays a key role in every player’s life. In the case of young players, every year is absolutely vital where they must gain experience and grow as individuals in physical and technical areas. The U-17 Indian women’s football team was preparing well for the upcoming tournament since India was among the participants being the host nation.

FIFA will assess the next steps when it comes to hosting the tournament. This means that there is a slight hope that India regains the hosting rights if AIFF gets its house in order sooner than later. India will likely not be part of the tournament if FIFA finds a different host. It will waste precious time of the young female footballers and that could be detrimental to their careers. The U-17 Indian team has amazing talent and playing in the World Cup would have been an incredible experience for them.

Shattering the hopes of World Cup qualification

Hosting the 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup was essential to India’s hopes of World Cup qualification for the senior squad. Realistically, the women’s national team is closer to qualifying for the World Cup than the men’s team. The Blue Tigresses are 56th in the world rankings and could ensure qualification in future.

Full coverage of FIFA ban on AIFF

In ideal circumstances, many players from the current U-17 national squad will eventually constitute the senior team in future. Having the experience of playing at the FIFA World Cup would have been vital to their development. It would be the perfect motivation for the stars of tomorrow. Since the hosting rights are snatched - for the time being - the dream of seeing India at the senior World Cup seems to fade farther away.

Letting down the players

Amidst all the controversy, clashing of interests and allegations, the biggest loss is of the players. It is imperative that the people behind the scenes do their utmost to give the players on the pitch a comfortable playing environment with lots of support. A player relies on the officials for many things such as organization of events, access to infra and more.

The stark outcome of FIFA’s suspension of the AIFF and snatching away hosting rights for the 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup is the incompetence of the officials. Once again, the players are bearing the biggest brunt of this suspension. They will lose the opportunity to play alongside the top upcoming talents that world football has to offer and get vital exposure.

For instance, Gokulam Kerala went to Uzbekistan to participate in the AFC Women’s Club Championship. For no fault of theirs, the club is now disallowed from taking part in the tournament. The whole scenario is demoralizing for the players at the club and the U-17 girls who were hoping to represent the country at the World Cup.

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