New Delhi: Bhubaneswar will host one of the inaugural matches of the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup. The Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar will also be the venue of one of the quarterfinals and semifinals of the Under-17 World Cup. The revised fixtures were announced by the world football’s governing body Tuesday. The event scheduled to take place November 2020 have now been pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The revised dates for the tournament are February 17 to March 7, 2021.
India will have the football-crazy northeast crowd behind them as they play all their group matches at Guwahati’s Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium.
The quarterfinals will take place in Ahmedabad, Navi Mumbai, Bhubaneswar and Kolkata, February 27 and 28 respectively. The two semifinals will be held simultaneously March 3 in Navi Mumbai and Bhubaneswar.
While Navi Mumbai has also been given the grand finale besides the third-place classification game, the tournament will open with double headers in Guwahati and the Kalinga Stadium.
India, who hold the ‘A1’ position in the draw by virtue of being the hosts will take on A2. The identity of their opponent will be confirmed when the ranking and draw for the teams take place. Both Group B matches will take place February 17 in Bhubaneswar.
Group C and D matches will take place at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata and and TransStadia Arena in Ahmedabad, respectively February 18.
Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Guwahati, Kolkata and Navi Mumbai have already been confirmed as the five host cities for the tournament.
“With the host for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 set to be announced June 25, 2020, the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup India 2021 will provide football fans in India with a chance to welcome the future world stars and heroes of the women’s game next year,” FIFA said according to a release issued by the local organising committee.