AIFF hoping to navigate Covid third wave to host Asian Women’s Cup

Express News Service

KOCHI: Women’s football in India is set to experience one of its biggest years with the AFC Asian Women’s Cup set to be held in a few days’ time and the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup set to be conducted in October.

However, the Covid-19 pandemic has taken the sheen off the continental tournament to some extent with no spectators allowed and the players having to play inside a bio-bubble.

The All India Football Federation president, Praful Patel, suggested that the local organising committee (LOC) has contingency plans in place according to the SOPs and guidelines provided by the AFC and FIFA. In fact, Patel suggested that India’s capabilities of hosting major international tournaments have given them the confidence to even bid for the 2027 Asian Cup.

“India is a serious contender for (hosting) the 2027 Asian Cup. There is no question of not trying our best, but you know it is a competitive bidding process and we will be pitted against Qatar and Saudi Arabia and others. I’ve spoken to the Government of India and this requires support at all levels. The government of India is also very forthcoming on this issue. Hosting these major tournaments (referring to the FIFA U-17 men’s World Cup and the upcoming AFC tournaments) changed the landscape of Indian football,” said Patel during a virtual interaction on Monday.

While Patel is confident about hosting major tournaments in the future, the immediate attention is on the Women’s Asian Cup, a 12-team tournament that begins on January 20. Initially, it was supposed to be held in Navi Mumbai, Bhubaneshwar and Ahmedabad but the Covid situation forced the organisers to give sole hosting rights to Maharashtra, with matches set to be held across DY Patil Stadium (Navi Mumbai), Mumbai Football Arena (Mumbai) and Shri Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex (Pune) inside a bio-bubble.

“India is all set to host the Asian Cup and the U-17 Women’s World Cup in October. We have followed the strictest of protocols and the government of Maharashtra is helping us. These were not the original scheduled venues. We had to reschedule it and AFC and FIFA wanted that we don’t make the teams travel much. And it’d be easier to manage,” said the FIFA council member.

The question arose about how the organisers were planning to tackle a situation in case there was a Covid outbreak inside the bubble.

“Let’s hope that anything untoward won’t happen. AFC already has a lot of contingency plans and assuming some players have the virus, they can be isolated and the team can be fielded. As long as 13 players are available from the total sanctioned squad, the participating teams will be allowed to play,” he added.

At a time when the I-League had to be postponed and a few ISL matches were postponed as well, the AIFF along with the government of Maharashtra feels that necessary steps have been taken for the successful hosting of the tournament.

According to the state minister and president of Mumbai District Football Association Aaditya Thackeray, hosting the tournament will also set in motion a trend of developing a footballing culture in the state.

“In the past few years, football in Maharashtra has been on the rise. Be it Mumbai City, I-League teams or local teams, they have been playing constantly. The idea is to make football a game moving away from big turfs and big fields to something that is easily playable,” said Thackeray.