FIFA says India is capable of staging a successful Under-17 World Cup in 2017

New Delhi: Satisfied with the current infrastructure in place, a FIFA team, which is here to inspect stadia, today said India has the potential to host a "tremendous Under-17 World Cup" in 2017, but asked the AIFF to be proactive in its planning and execution.

"All the potential is there to make it a tremendous World Cup and leave a tremendous legacy for youth football in India," said Inaki Alvarez, Deputy Director and Head of Event Management Competitions Division, FIFA.

The All India Football Federation, though, surprisingly barred the media from interacting with the FIFA team after the inspection at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, one of the eight venues shortlisted by the AIFF to host the event.

But before he got down to work, Alvarez had quite a few encouraging words to say as far as India's ability to host the mega-event was concerned.

"It's been a week and we have visited five cities. So far the experience has been very good, very positive... all infrastructure is there, organisation well done. I can say that we are heading in a very good directions," Alvarez said.

Asked what about his main areas of focus, he said, "There are number of aspects... infrastructure, stadium itself, dressing rooms, pitch, TV facilities and various other facilities.

"It's a long process, it's not about today, tomorrow. It will take several months if not years, we are going to analyse each stadiums and infrastructure," he added.