By Andrew Warshaw
17 October – Amidst all the hullaballoo over the 2022 Qatar World Cup, a younger version of football’s biggest global jamboree was set to begin in the Gulf today (Thursday), almost unnoticed outside the region itself. The under-17 World Cup is being staged in six venues by one of Qatar’s neighbours, the United Arab Emirates, with little controversy and hardly any hot air – metaphorically speaking.
The tournament was kicking off at the Mohammad Bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi with Brazil versus Slovakia, followed by the host nation against Honduras.
FIFA officials have spent a week inspecting the stadiums that will stage the 24-nation tournament which ends November 8, and pronounced themselves satisfied with both the infrastructure and the organisation.
“We are being hosted by professional clubs, so they know the football business,” said Inaki Alvarez, FIFA’s deputy director of competitions. “It’s just now we need to focus on what we have to do to make it a FIFA World Cup and create the atmosphere of a World Cup – which includes full stadiums.”
With the tournament focussing on unearthing the next generation of stars, FIFA hope choosing the Emirates as hosts will stimulate youth football in the area. “The UAE has recently done very well in the Olympics and the Gulf Cup, so the current generation is on a good footing,” Alvarez said.
“However, we need to be focused on the generation of tomorrow. This event is about the next generation – it has the potential to completely transform football in the UAE.
“It [UAE] is a country on the move, it’s a region on the move. Football is growing here tremendously so we think it fits well. What we really need now is for the public to embrace this event – the largest football event in the history of UAE. We call on all players – especially 12 to 17 years of age – to come out, bring their families and welcome the stars of tomorrow.”
Despite reports to the contrary, organisers insist no free ticketshave been given away to boost attendances but Rafael Salguero, Chairman of the FIFA Organising Committee, urged the countries involved to beware of using over-age players.
“We in FIFA are very keen to avoid such cases,” he said. “We make tests of all the players before the finals and, upon arriving at the host country, we take four players randomly from each team and conduct age tests on them. This is the responsibility of the FIFA Medical Committee and they have their successful methods to disclose such cases of fraud.”
Matches are being staged in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ras Al-Khaimah, Fujairah and Al Ain. Much interest is bound to focus on weather conditions, for fans and players alike, especially with so much debate over whether to switch the Qatar World Cup – roughly 200 miles west of Dubai – to the same time of year.
Group A: UAE, Honduras, Brazil, Slovakia
Group B: Uruguay, New Zealand, Ivory Coast, Italy
Group C: Croatia, Morocco, Panama, Uzbekistan
Group D: Tunisia, Venezuela, Russia, Japan
Group E: Canada, Austria, Iran, Argentina
Group F: Mexico, Nigeria, Iraq, Sweden
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