2017 FIFA U17 World Cup: A ray of hope for Indian football fans.

This exceptional news of India receiving the honour of hosting the U17 football World cup did not allow me to sleep an entire night. This excitement was not only because Indian Football had never seen such a glory in history but was also because I could sense that this event would open several sealed doors before the budding players and supporters.

Since I have been an ardent follower of Indian football, I have always hated the fact that the maximum percentage of our country’s youth has very limited enthusiasm towards their national team, and that is quite justified. I can even bet that there are few, who are not even aware that their country has a National team. This event would not only give enormous exposure to football in our country, but will also awaken a huge mass of people who have always been ignorant about their country’s football culture.

It is not that our country is a cricket mad nation, but it is just that cricket has given a lot to us. It has given us several reasons to be proud and illustrious. It is quite natural for every individual of India to pray for this sport as this has been our identity in several countries. On the other hand, football in our country could never touch that splendor. Or we can say that fewer initiatives have been taken for the amelioration of this sport. Thus the ignorance that this sport has received in return has been genuine.

Whenever the higher authorities of the Indian football federation have been questioned regarding the “NO-PROGRESS”, they have been giving us very common and boring answers like, “Poor infrastructure, less exposure” etc. I’m sure by now all generations have mugged up this answer, and they use it as their only weapon. Since the day I’ve learned about football, I’ve had to face only criticisms about our nation’s football team. Now this entire country has got hold of the magic weapon which if used wisely, can certainly change the entire picture of football in our country.

It was my dream to witness a stadium filled with women supporters of football just like we get to see during IPL matches. Finally, I feel this dream has got a chance to come true. The entire football authority of India and of course our government has huge future plans to conduct this event which will certainly bring a vast change in the quality. It is expected that this will allow our women supporters to gallop in the field and cheer for their national team.

For the very first time I could even see a ray of hope for the Women’s national team of football. India should not miss this opportunity of hosting this event really well so that in the future they can go ahead and bid for women’s U17 World Cup. However, unfortunately, our system follows a strange ideology. Women who are the true budding stars are never highlighted or supported unless they reach the peak, but our system doesn’t realize that real talents are getting lost every year. Anyway, we still always believe that all human wisdom is summed up in two words – wait and hope.

Precisely, 2017 is going to be a gala time for all the football lovers in our country and we are very impatiently looking forward to get the feel of witnessing a World Cup match on our very own soil.