Ministry goes big to kick up U-17 World Cup fever

Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 27

Ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shown interest in the FIFA Under-17 World Cup that India is hosting next year, the Sports Ministry is working tirelessly towards making the tournament a resounding success.

In its latest endeavour to build up a momentum and buzz around the big event, the Sports Ministry has launched an ambitious project — Mission 11 Million. It’s aimed at engaging 11 million schoolchildren in football-related activities in about 30 cities across the country. As per this scheme, an All-India Inter-School Championship will be held next year, in which 11 million children would be encouraged to participate.

The programme has been formulated in consultation with the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and will be launched in October this year. In this regard, a letter has been issued by sports secretary Rajeev Yadav to all chief secretaries of the states and UTs to promote the game by including it in various programmes of the state governments. 

The government is expected to contribute around Rs 120 crore for the World Cup, and this ambitious programme would be funded out of that budget. FIFA would provide around $6 million for the tournament, while All India Football Federation (AIFF) would need to cough up another $7 million with the help of the government, a major chunk of which will be spent on infrastructure and stadium renovation.

Incidentally, China is also spending heavily to become a global force in football by 2025. According to state media reports, as per Chinese President Xi Jinping’s 10-year-plan, a total of 20,000 football schools will be opened by 2017, while 30,000 more will come up by 2025 to produce 100,000 home-grown football players. This is part of developing over 60 per cent of primary and middle schools as specialist football academies, with high-quality training facilities. Jinping’s ambitious plan is based around the creation of a Chinese sports economy worth $850 billion — in comparison, the entire global sports market is currently valued at just over $145 billion.

India, too, has taken a huge step by winning the bid to host the U-17 World Cup. The idea is to renew the interest in football and strengthen India’s global standing. The Sports Ministry’s idea to involve schoolchildren at such a large scale would create a positive buzz around the tournament, besides broadening the talent pool. For the programme to make a lasting impact, though, it will need to be continued even after the World Cup.

“It’s a good initiative. But the programme can be called a success only if we get some really promising talent. This programme shouldn’t run only for a few months, the government should pump in funds regularly to create infrastructure and run quality programmes,” said Sukhwinder Singh, a former India U-23 football coach.

“Through this programme, parents and their kids will get involved in football. Like the Indian Super League brought people back to the stadiums, this programme should be able to create more interest around the game.”