Jugaad leaves India red-faced before U-17 World Cup football

“We are proud to host the third most coveted international football tournament in the world and the biggest ever in Indian history.

“This is a matter of national pride as we help create world class infrastructure, bring in professional planning and execution and deliver the best possible tournament to India’s football lovers. We see this as the onset of a ‘football revolution’ in India.”

These are the words of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) general secretary Kushal Das when India was awarded the right to host the 2017 under-17 World Cup.

AIFF president Praful Patel was also thrilled when he said: “This is historic. Hosting a tournament of such stature will help galvanise the face of Indian football among the masses and youth of the country.”

Much water has flowed since then, and the FIFA team, which visted the country recently to inspect the venues earmarked for the tournament, voiced its concern, saying that major renovation was needed in all the six venues (Kochi, Goa, Navi Mumbai, Kolkata, Guwahati and New Delhi).

Though the FIFA delegation was happy with the planning for the showpiece event, planning needed implementation was what they said. With the deadline for making the stadia and all other infrastructural requirements, like dressing rooms, practice pitches and visual obstruction-free sitting arrangements, ready being October 2016, the big question is this: will our Central, state and regional agencies be able to meet the deadline?

"Jugaad" (loosely translated from Hindi as makeshift arrangements) is ingrained in the Indian culture. We have already seen this during the preparation for the Commonwealth Games in 2010, an event for which we earned a lot of criticism.

But the under-17 World Cup is a different ball game altogether. With 24 countries playing 52 matches and the whole world watching, a last minute dash to finish things off will dent the image of Indian sports. Therefore, jugaad will not work and a proper system needs to be in place.

Joy Bhattacharjya (project director of the local organising committee of the under-17 World Cup) has rightly said that we have got a penalty and if we miss it we miss everything. If we are able to do the right thing at the right time, then many more major FIFA and AFC events would be awarded to us which will, in turn, become a turning point for Indian football.

It is not as if football is not popular in India. But the youth in India do not see any future in football today and hence, are not ready to take it up as career. Let us hope that a successful hosting of the under-17 World Cup will brighten the prospects of the game in India.