Odisha students to get 43,000 footballs as U-17 Women’s World Cup begins

A FIFA official said soccer is a powerful platform to change society and the ‘Football for All’ scheme will make the game truly global

Updated on: Oct 10, 2022, 21:13:06 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty

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Ahead of the inaugural ceremony of the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup in Bhubaneswar’s Kalinga stadium on Monday, Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday launched a ‘Football for All’ programme in which 43,000 footballs will be distributed among children in about 2,000 schools of the state.

Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik virtually inaugurated the Football for All programme on Monday. (ANI Picture Service)

Supposed to be the first such programme of FIFA in India that aims at promoting football among school children, ‘Football for All’ is a FIFA vision to make football truly global, said an official.

Patnaik who laumched the programme said the partnerships and initiatives will help football development in the country. “We are quite focused on football development, especially women’s football. As a legacy of the World Cup, we will have good infrastructure and coaching programmes,” he said as sports minister Tusharkanti Behera presented footballs to students of Unit-9 girls High School and Capital High School Bhubaneswar.

Patnaik said it was a proud moment for Odisha to be among the host venues for the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup. “The World Cup will give a major boost towards development of football in the state,” he said.

“Football is a powerful platform to change society. ‘Football for All’ is a FIFA vision to make football truly global. The programme will provide life skill support to children,” said director of ‘Football For Schools’, FIFA, Fatimata Sow Sidbe.

The inaugural ceremony which would be held at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Monday evening would see India and USA fight it out after a colourful cultural extravaganza. Apart from India and USA, Morocco and Brazil would also fight it out on Monday night.

The stadium will host five Group A matches, in which four countries – India, the US, Morocco and Brazil – will be facing each other, and one Group B match between Nigeria and Chile.

Having qualified automatically as hosts, India would be playing in their first ever U-17 World Cup. It would be the first time that a women’s team has represented the nation at the finals of a FIFA tournament.

Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneshwar, JLN Stadium in Margao and DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai will be hosting all the group matches, while the knockout fixtures will be played at Goa and Navi Mumbai, with the latter also staging the final. FIFA+ will broadcast all U-17 Women’s World Cup games in selected territories.

Meanwhile, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday said the “Football for Schools” programme run by FIFA will be taken to over 700 districts in the country. The Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti will be the nodal agency for implementing it. Pradhan made the announcement at a meeting with FIFA secretary general Fatma Samoura, ahead of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.

(With PTI inputs)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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