GUWAHATI, Aug 9 - Guwahati indeed has one of the best line up of teams coming to India this October with traditional powerhouses France and Japan grouped with New Caledonia and Honduras, said Tournament Director of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017 Javier Ceppi who visited the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium here today.
After taking stock of the stadium he interacted with the media and revealed that people may think that not too many attractive teams are here, but France has Amine Gouiri who was the top scorer of UEFA U-17 Championship with eight goals. Takefusa Kubo who plays for Japan was the star of Barcelona youth system and is the youngest scorer in the J-League.
Ceppi, however, expressed his concern over the city which is now lacking behind Kolkata and Kochi in terms of ticket sales after it exhausted its available inventory of tickets for Phase I and II.
�Ticket sales in Guwahati were extremely strong in Phase I and Phase II but have unexpectedly declined currently. Football is a religion in Guwahati and other parts of the North-East India, and hence, we are not very worried about filling the stadium,� the Chilean said.
The Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium which can now accommodate 23,850 people, will host the likes of France, Japan, Mexico and Chile apart from new football powers including New Caledonia and Honduras.
FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017 kicks off on October 6.
