FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup 2020: Official emblem launched in Mumbai

The emblem was launched in the presence of the AIFF President and the Union Sports Miniter.

The FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2020 is to be held in India exactly a year from tonight and hence the emblem for the mega event was spectacularly launched at the serene Gateway of India on 2nd November 2019.

AIFF President Praful Patel, the Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju and the most capped footballer in the history of the sport, Kristine Lilly, were present at the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup emblem launch. Along with them, FIFA’s chief women's football officer Sarai Bareman graced the event with her attendance as well.

In the post-event presser, Patel, Rijiju and Bareman spoke on topics related to the upcoming extravaganza. As the AIFF President stated about the hosting of two U-17 World Cups within a span of three years under his presidency, he was asked about how the association looks forward to making further improvements in next year’s edition of the tournament, as compared to 2017.

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He said, “Let me be honest, when we hosted the U-17 World Cup in 2017, you can verify with FIFA, their press conferences and their President, they would give us a 10/10 in terms of all the work that was required and the facilities that were needed."

“So, with that experience also and fortunately Roma Khanna was associated with that edition of the World Cup also. So, she and her entire team, with all the support from the state governments also, because there are a lot of facilities and support required. But, given that background, I cannot anticipate any problem. This time we will try to do better than what we did in the previous World Cup.”

Earlier, Kiren Rijiju had addressed the entire audience at the Gateway where he said, “Football is the most popular sport in the world. We cannot afford India lacking behind in this sport. We have all the resources, we have done well in it in the past and now there is no reason why we should be left behind in football.”

Kristine Lilly, also known as the Queen of Caps then remarked, "I spoke to a young Indian female footballer ahead of this event and asked her whether she was excited to represent her country in the upcoming World Cup and she had no answer, she just smiled."

“That’s what happens when you appear for your nation in an event like the World Cup. I have played in five of them. We hosted them twice and when we defeated China in stoppage time, the entire stadium was cheering ‘USA’, ‘USA.’ It was surreal.”

Sarai Bareman spoke about her optimism regarding this tournament. She said, "I am incredibly optimistic. After witnessing the passion of these two gentlemen (Rijiju and Patel), you can’t really ask for more in terms of support coming from the government and the football federation."

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"For the success of women's football, for the success of this FIFA U-17 World Cup, we need the support of people from the high level, their passion. I have high expectations from them, but I also believe that they are very realistic."

Patel concluded the briefing by revealing that a broad consensus has been reached regarding the whole situation created over ISL-I League merger. The upcoming edition of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup is being eagerly awaited by the masses, especially with only a year to go for the same.