It will be decided in December that whether India gets to host the U-17 World Cup in 2017 or not, announced Jerome Valcke, FIFA secretary general, says a report in Daily Mail.
'We will discuss about it (bids) in our executive body meeting from September 27-28. We will have another round of discussion in Tokyo in December before the Club World Cup final. So before the end of 2012, we will announce the name of the host country,' Valcke said.
“We encourage the U-17 World Cup to be hosted in a country where there is a possibility for the game to grow and also where the infrastructure needs to be developed. We will push for India's name in the executive committee meetings as it will help them build a team that can qualify for the World Cup”, said Valcke.
Meanwhile, The Times of India report says that AIFF president Praful Patel said that FIFA will is bent on improving football in India.
We have signed an agreement on strategic and technical assistance for hosting the event and ways to improve the game at the grassroots. The statement is all about how we are planning to go about in the coming years. Our aim is to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar”, said Patel.
Jerome Valcke, FIFA secretary general promised that FIFA will look into India’s request.
"We are not looking for a return from our investment in India. FIFA is on a sound financial footing till 2022. We are often accused of entering a country and running away with the money, which is blatantly untrue. We are here to see football grow. I would like to see football emerge as the number one sport in the country by 2022. Sorry cricket!", he said.