FIFA U-17 World Cup crucial to spread football and develop infrastructure, says Prime Minister Modi

PRIME MINISTER of India Narendra Modi, on his radio show "Mann Ki Baat", said India hosting the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup was going to be a crucial event in terms of popularising football and sports in general in the country and develop sporting infrastructure.

The Prime Minister talked about India's past in football when they used to be one of the strongest footballing nations in Asia. But he mentioned that the tide has waned since then and our ranking has suffered.

India had a good run in football earlier but that is not the case now. Our rankings are also very low: PM @narendramodi

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) March 27, 2016

But recently there has been a resurgence in the popularity of football, with a large number of youngsters following European leagues like the English Premier League. He said it was time to spread the love of football to the faraway nooks and corners of this country, including villages; and the FIFA U-17 World Cup is a great opportunity to execute it.

I see that our youth is enjoying football like EPL. Its important to take football to every village & FIFA U-17 is a great opportunity: PM

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) March 27, 2016

Modi also recognized the opportunity it brought to re-vitalize football infrastructure in India and called upon all the youngsters in this country to become "ambassadors" of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, to announce India's revival in the global footballing landscape.

Due to the tournament that we are hosting, we will get an opportunity to create good sporting infrastructure also: PM @narendramodi

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) March 27, 2016

मैं चाहूँगा कि मेरा हर नौजवान ये 2017 FIFA Under- 17 विश्व कप का ambassador बने: PM @narendramodi #MannKiBaat https://t.co/Iy8hu3Nre5

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) March 27, 2016

The mega tourment, to be held in September-October next year, is being regarded as a milestone event in modern Indian football and the Prime Minister's weighing in on the topic will help generate a lot of buzz and publicity around the first ever world football championship of any age group that will feature an Indian team.

Sunil Chhetri, the Indian national team captain, agreed whole-heartedly with the proposition of the prime minister. He told the official AIFF website,

"I would request all the stakeholders involved with Football to listen to the Prime Minister. We need to pull our socks and give our best. We need 200 percent support. That’s all we can ask."