Preview World football’s governing body FIFA and the Local Organising Committee (LOC) on Wednesday announced the participation of former Argentina midfielder Esteban Cambiasso and Nigerian forward Nwankwo Kanu along with Indian skipper Sunil Chhetri and country’s top-ranked badminton player PV Sindhu at the official draw for the FIFA U-17 World Cup. [caption id=“attachment_3774459” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]
The U-17 World Cup trophy that 24 teams will be competing for in October. Image courtesy: FIFA[/caption] While Kanu won the 1993 edition of the U-17 World Cup, midfielder Cambiasso participated in the 1995 edition. Kanu won Olympic gold in 1996, was twice chosen as African Player of the Year, and played for Nigeria at the 1998, 2002 and 2010 editions of the World Cup. Cambiasso, meanwhile, won the FIFA U-20 World Cup 1997 and was part of Argentina’s team at the 2010 World Cup. “The FIFA U-17 World Cup 1993 really spurred my career - within years of winning the title, I won the Olympic gold and from there as I would like to believe, there wasn’t any looking back. This tournament provides youngsters the necessary stage for development and I believe this year’s edition will provide us all with exceptional talent – much like the previous tournaments,” Kanu said. The draw is on Friday while the World Cup, taking place in India for the first time, will be held from 6-28 October. With inputs from IANS
FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017 draw, as it happened: India draw USA, Colombia, Ghana; opening ceremony on 5 October
Catch all the Live updates from FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017 Official Draw where India would make it’s debut on the world stage
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FINAL GROUPS!
Venues for all the Groups
Group A: New Delhi
Group B: Navi Mumbai,
Group C: Margao,
Group D: Kochi,
Group E: Guwahati,
Group F: Kolkata
Colombia have not made it to an U-17 World Cup since 2009. This time around, Colombia sealed their entry in dramatic style – with a 2-1 win over the Paraguayans in the last group match.
Having previously made it to the FIFA U-17 World Cup on five occasions, Colombia’s best finish came in Finland 2003 and Nigeria 2009, when they finished third.
They finished third at this year’s South American U-17 Championship with two victories, a draw and a defeat seeing them go into the hexagonal final phase as the second placed team from Group A. There, they beat Ecuador 2-1 and held Venezuela. However, a 0-1 defeat to Chile and a 0-3 blanking at the hands of Brazil proved to be their undoing.
POT 1 ENDS!
India – Group A
Mali – Group B
Germany – Group C
Brazil – Group D
France – Group E
Mexico – Group F
Here’s how the teams have been divided into Pots
Praful Patel makes a massive mistake: Claims India had qualified for the 1958 World Cup. In reality, it was the 1950 World Cup. The mistake gets even more glaring when you realise that he is the head of the All India Football Federation.
Nwankwo Kanu on the dais. The draw will happen shortly
Nwankwo Kanu on the dice. The draw will happen shortly
The official ball for the 2017 U-17 World Cup is being unveiled
Almost there!
Just 15 minutes to go for the 2017 U-17 World Cup draw. Stick around for al the Live updates
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