FIFA today announced its match schedule for the Under-17 World Cup, to be held in India this October, and there were no surprises as Kolkata's iconic Salt Lake Stadium was named the venue for the final on October 28.
The surprise was Delhi losing out on staging any of the seven big matches - the quarterfinals onwards - but the decision was consistent with FIFA's public statement last week expressing concerns over expected pollution levels in the city in late October, when those knockout games will be held.
This would be the first high-profile impact on Delhi's status as a sporting venue after last year's Diwali festival, when the bursting of crackers led to unprecedented pollution levels. The question of pollution in Delhi had been raised during FIFA's inspection tour of Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on March 23. The Local Organising Committee (LOC) had sought data from the Central Pollution Control Board, which FIFA officials then said was being was being analysed by the world body.
"FIFA is aware (of the problem). We are concerned," FIFA tournament director Jaime Yarza had said last week. "We have our doctors, we have a very big medical department and they are monitoring all the issues. We know it's a concern, and after Diwali a bigger concern."
Yarza said then that they were awaiting the reports of Indian doctors working with FIFA and that those reports would decide the match allocation. His statement echoed what Javier Ceppi, the tournament director, had told the Indian Express last month: "...pollution in Delhi is a serious concern... particularly after Diwali. We all know this."
The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium will host its last match - in the Round of 16 - on October 16, three days before Diwali, following which air pollution reliably spikes. There were other concerns that possibly set Delhi back, too.
"Apart from the pollution aspect, there are other factors - competition format, team movements, weather, local festivities, geography - that we had to consider in order to select a venue to decide which venue gets which games," Joy Bhattacharjya, project director of IOC, said.
"Crowd attendance is another. We had also spoken to the organisers of the ISL games that were held over here and you know the kind of crowds Nehru Stadium got. It is a big stadium so it is harder to fill up the stadium."
In all, Delhi will host eight games, the least of any of the six venues. The quarterfinals will be in Goa, Guwahati, Kochi and Kolkata, while Guwahati and Navi Mumbai will host the semi-finals.
Kochi, one of the country's footballing hotbeds and the first venue picked to host a U-17 World Cup Game, might have expected to host a semifinal. However, lack of preparedness at its Nehru Stadium was also highlighted by FIFA last week.
"While some work has happened, it's by far not enough, which is a matter of deep concern," Yarza had said following his inspection of the venue on March 25.
"The State Government must get involved, give us an unrestricted support and get the urgency of the situation, because there are a lot of changes that need to be made to the stadium. The works need to be done by 15th May and given the large amount of renovation that must happen, works have to go on full speed."
Another sticking point was the location of stores surrounding the stadium in Kochi.
"From a security standpoint they cannot be opened during the tournament. There are stores with fuel tanks, which is a grave safety and security concern, so their equipment also need to be taken out," Yarza had said.