GUWAHATI, June 23 - The Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Sarusajai here will be the proud host of the Group A matches of the FIFA U-17 Women�s World Cup which consist of host nation India. One of the opening matches of the tournament will also be played here on February 17.
The world football governing body FIFA has today published the updated match schedule for the global championship which is scheduled to take place from February 17 to March 7 next year.
Earlier, Guwahati had organised U-17 Men�s World Cup matches in the year 2017 at the same venue. That time the venue had hosted the Group E matches along with a pre-quarterfinal and a quarterfinal match. Guwahati was also scheduled to host the mouth-watering semifinal between England and Brazil on October 25 but due to bad weather condition the match was shifted to Kolkata.
The other cities to host the matches are � Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata and Navi Mumbai. Altogether 32 matches involving sixteen teams will be played in the championship.
Following the confirmation by the�bureau of the FIFA council in May 2020 regarding the new tournament dates, the opening match will take place in Guwahati on February 17 with the champions set to be crowned at the final in Navi Mumbai on March 7.
The tournament, which was earlier scheduled to take place in November 2020, was pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to a FIFA information, the hosts for the FIFA Women�s World Cup 2023 is set to be announced on June 25.
The quarterfinals will take place in Ahmedabad, Navi Mumbai, Bhubaneswar and Kolkata on February 27 and 28 respectively.
The two semifinals will be held simultaneously on March 3 in Navi Mumbai and Bhubaneswar while Navi Mumbai has also been given the grand finale besides the third-place classification game. The tournament will open with double headers in Guwahati and Bhubaneswar�s Kalinga Stadium.
India, who hold the A1 position in the draw by virtue of being the hosts will take on A2, which will be confirmed when the draw takes place, in their opener on February 17. The day�s other Group A match will also take place in Guwahati.
Both Group B matches will take place on the same day in Bhubaneswar.
Group C and D matches will take place at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata and TransStadia Arena in Ahmedabad, respectively on February 18.
On February 20, India will face A3 in Guwahati while the February 22 match will see the hosts take on A4.
