DY Patil has a ball as Fifa gives nod to Navi Mumbai stadium

Henry Menezes, CEO, WIFA; Dr Vijay Patil, president of DY Patil Sports Academy and Javier Ceppi, tournament director, LOC, at the DY Patil stadium. (Photo: Rajesh Jadhav)

With DY Patil Stadium chosen as the second venue after Kochi for next year’s U-17 World Cup in India, accolades have poured in for the stadium owner Vijay Patil.

The stadium was ratified on Thursday and received immense praise from the 23-member visiting delegates of Fifa and local organising committee (LOC).

“The choice to ratify it as a venue was not hard, because this is a world-class facility with world-class owners. We hope this is a great step to make football even bigger in Maharashtra. It is a benchmark for other stadiums in India,” Javier Ceppi, tournament director, LOC, said after final inspection of the venue on Thursday.

“Extraordinary work has been done so far. It was a good decision by Javier to select it as a venue,” Tracy Lu, project lead for Fifa U-17 World Cup India, said.

Mr Patil, who is the president of the DY Patil Sports Stadium, said the selection of the venue was a tribute to Navi Mumbai’s sports culture. “We endeavour to promote sports and it is great if quality football can be promoted,” said Mr Patil, who also helped refurbish the Mumbai Football Arena in Andheri Sports Complex stadium, which is hosting the Indian Super League (ISL) games this year.

The DY Patil stadium which hosted Mumbai City FC for two seasons of the ISL did not host the team the third time as it was preparing for the Fifa inspection.

Curator Manjit Malhi who has worked on the turf at DY Patil said, “We look after the (Bermuda) grass properly and maintain it. When we hold a cricket match, we prune the grass. However, we have to grow it again before a football match,” he said.

The selection of eight centres to host the Fifa U-17 WC had begun in 2014 which was brought down to six later. Mumbai had no ground matching Fifa standards then as Cooperage had limited seating capacity and the Mumbai Football Arena was in bad shape then.

“When I sat with Joy Bhattacharjya, project director, LOC, in 2014, we were struggling to find a solution for Mumbai. It was then that I met Vijay Patil, who understood the magnitude of the event and realised it was once in a lifetime opportunity. We needed somebody like him with a mission,” Mr Ceppi said.

“Navi Mumbai has a young population so we expect them to fill the stands along with Mumbai and Pune crowds. During the ISL, around 23,000 people came here to watch the games. We are also happy with the accommodation facilities and communication around the stadium,” he added.

Western India Football Association CEO Henry Menezes too was all praise for the ground and said it would be good for the upcoming athletes in the region.

“The state had three players Aniket Jadhav from Kolhapur and Mumbai boys Saurabh Meher and Gaston D’Silva in the 27-member Indian squad for the AFC U-16 Cup recently held in Goa. These boys are preparing for the U-17 World Cup. A few more players are also doing well and may make it to the U-17 WC team,” he said.