The true legacy of the Under-17 World Cup in India will be felt only if there is a long-term strategy for maintaining and finding proper use for the upgraded infrastructure. Football and budding footballers need more grounds to play and the World Cup and its Mission XI MILLION PROJECT have planted seeds of a football revolution. The role of nurturing it after the biennial event will be a tough, but absolutely vital task
The global game is seeing an exponential rise with barriers broken and new frontiers added to its already burgeoning empire. Challenging the might of the central European and South American powerhouses, little-known places from eastern Europe, Africa and elsewhere are producing a lot of today’s football stars. The Bundesliga title races are, now, routinely powered by polish or Gabonese strikers, while in England we have stars from Armenia, Korea and even Mali, which ranks an abysmal 175 in the Human Development Index. Its FIFA ranking, however, is a much healthier 76 and as many as 20 of its 23 current national players ply their trade in Europe.
FOOTBALL, FOR LONG, has provided an opportunity for hard-working youngsters to find a life away from poverty and hardship. With the game turning richer by the day the trend continues and grows. The world’s favourite sport now provides more employment opportunities even as traditional job markets shrink further, reeling under the threat of growing automation.
The world governing body, embattled by corruption charges in a system which allows little scope for transparency and good governance, has done well to spread its net far and wide, using its wealth from its flagship senior men’s World Cup to not just buy votes but also bring in development.
ITS AGE-GROUP COMPETITIONS are a way to democratising football, allowing non-traditional nations a chance to host an international event and thereby also providing an opportunity to test footballing skills against the best in the world. India, ranked 107, will thus have its first brush with a FIFA event as it welcomes 23 other nations for the 17th edition of the Under-17 World Cup.
This story is from the October 14, 2017 edition of Sportstar.
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This story is from the October 14, 2017 edition of Sportstar.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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