New Delhi: The world football governing body FIFA's inspection team is 80% satisfied with the planning aspect of India's preparations for next year's Under-17 World Cup.
The FIFA also mentioned that major renovation works need to be done in most of the six stadia to be compliant with international standards.
In a press conference on Saturday, FIFA's Jaime Yarza stated that they are 80% satisfied with the planning.
"I must say that the FIFA delegation is satisfied with the planning of the U-17 FIFA World Cup. The AIFF, the local organising committee and governments have done a very good job as far as planning is concerned. We are 80 percent satisfied with the planning of the tournament," Yarza said.
Jaime Yarza also went on to add that the state and central governments, alongside the football federation will have to start construction work immediately with the deadline time set in October..
"But we need amendments in the ground plan and all the six stadiums need major renovations. October is the deadline for the stadiums to comply with standards required for hosting a World Cup match. The state and central governments and local organising committee will need to start the construction work immediately," he added.
He went on too add that now is the work for the implementation of the plan.
"We still have time but October is not far away and all the stakeholders will really need to start work. Now is the time to start working on the implementation of the plans."
The FIFA team has been in India since February 14 this month and had inspected stadiums in Kochi, Goa, Mumbai, Kolkata, Guwahati before coming in the capital. The team inspected the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium which will host the event.
Yarza did not divulge much but also said that the dressing rooms are too small and more needs to be constructed.
"I cannot tell all these before I submit the report to the local organising committee in a few days. But the dressing rooms in all the stadiums are not enough and they are small in size also. Each stadium must have four dressing rooms and they need to construct new dressing rooms," he said.
He also stated that work will need to be done for the safety and evacuation of fans and praised Mumbai's D Y Patil Stadium which according to him has been the best of the lot.
(With PTI inputs)
