FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2022 is slated to be held in India later this year and Director of FIFA Tournaments, Jaime Yarza, believes that the tournament will have connotations much beyond sport, leaving an indelible mark on society for the purpose of empowerment and development of women.
“This tournament is very special as it gives a bigger message than just football,” said Yarza before elucidating the impact such major events can have on society.
“The whole country understands football is an attractive sport. Now, it is not only about football. It is about women, their development and empowerment. We know it doesn’t have the appeal yet like men’s football. But it is not only about sport, it is about empowerment and giving women the weapon to develop themselves.”
Yarza feels FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup India 2022 assumes added context because youth and women’s football had almost stopped due to the global pandemic; and the main criteria to kick off women’s football is to ensure the safety of the players.
“A lot of the youth tournaments in the world have been cancelled due to the pandemic, more specifically the women’s tournaments. Thus, this World Cup is very important to kick off women’s football again. To be able to ensure this happens, we need to have the safest procedures in place. The main criteria is to ensure the safety of everyone involved, specifically and mostly the players. We are talking about 16–17-year-old players.”
Despite the challenges, Yarza and his colleagues at FIFA remain confident of the success of the October tournament, especially after watching India host the AFC Women’s Asian Cup in the midst of a raging third wave of Covid-19.
“We are confident that the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup will build on the success of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup India 2022 earlier this year and will be another landmark tournament, one that will showcase the future superstars of women’s football and leave a lasting impact both on and off the pitch,” Yarza said.
Having overseen the 2017 youth event in India, Yarza, on a personal level, holds good memories of the country which was evident on his return to Goa and Navi Mumbai, while also visiting Bhubaneswar.
“The U-17 (FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017) that we organized in India, probably was the best ever U-17 tournament that we had, at least in the ones that I have been working with in the last 23 years,” he concluded.
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