India awarded rights to host FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in 2020, set to make debut in showpiece event

India have been awarded the rights to host the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in 2020. The decision was made on Friday at the FIFA Council meeting held on Friday in Miami. By virtue of being hosts, India will take part in the 16-team event for the first time in their history. The AIFF had earlier expressed their interest in hosting the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in 2020. “We are delighted to announce that India has been confirmed as the host of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in 2020,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said after the FIFA Council meeting.

CONFIRMED: @IndianFootball will host the 2020 #U17WWC in #India 🇮🇳. pic.twitter.com/kvRMR80RMO

— FIFA Women's World Cup (@FIFAWWC) March 15, 2019

Confirming the development, All India Football Federation General Secretary Kushal Das told PTI: “We are thankful to FIFA for giving the right to host the U-17 Women’s World Cup. This will raise the profile of women’s football in the country. “We have been giving a lot of emphasis on the development of women’s football in the country. So we bid for the U-17 Women’s World Cup and now we have got it.” The bidding process for the tournament started last year. France had also expressed interest to host the tournament. Das said the venues to host the mega event will be decided soon. “We have four-five venues in mind and we will finalise them soon.” In 2017, India hosted the men’s U-17 World Cup which England won after beating Spain in the final held at a sold-out Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata. The previous edition of the U-17 Women’s World Cup was held in Uruguay. Spain won their first title by beating Mexico in the final. The U-17 Women’s World Cup, which was first held in 2008, has traditionally been dominated by Asian teams. North Korea have won the title twice while South Korea and Japan have won the title once each. France were the only non-Asian champions till Spain’s victory in 2018.