India has been a fantastic host, says FIFA President Gianni Infantino

Navi Mumbai: FIFA president Gianni Infantino has lauded India's capability to organise World Cup football championship and said " India has been a fantastic host," at the end of FIFA World Cup for women under 17, which concluded here on Sunday.

Spain retained the championship with a 1-0 win over Colombia on Sunday night.“India has been a fantastic host. This makes me believe that you can do more in other competitions as well. In the meantime, there can be only one World Champion, but there are 210 countries that art not champions. However, I always say that all 211 countries win in the end. Football brings smiles to every little girl and boy in the world. When children play or watch football, they smile,” said the FIFA President.

The world's supreme football regulating body chief was interacting with the AIFF and state football associations' representatives during an interactive session." India is one of the countries that FIFA has high on its list for the popularisation of football," he added.

Infantino informed the gathering that he will be back in India early next year.“We were just in a meeting with AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey. Grassroots is an important area that we need to start pushing from, and build from there. There’s also things like how we can professionalise women’s competitions, and we have to strengthen the leagues to promote Indian Football,” said the FIFA President.

He also spoke about FIFA’s operations in India. He said, “You can count on FIFA to beef up our office here in India. We will work together on various things. India is a big country, a great country. There’s a lot to offer for both Indians in India and worldwide. I believe in the potential India has.”

“I spoke about India in the FIFA Congress as the sleeping giants of football. Now, it’s time for India to wake up. Whenever I come to India, I see a lot of passion for sports. Our ultimate objective is to make football global, and India, along with USA and China are the three countries that are a priority for us. To globalise football, we need to make India one of the top countries in the world.”(UNI)