Football Fever: Kalinga Stadium all ready to host FIFA Under-17 Women’s World

By Biswabhusan Mohapatra

Bhubaneswar, Oct. 10: After successfully organising high-octane events like Hockey World Cup in both senior and junior categories, Bhubaneswar is all set to bring in the heat for football lovers by hosting FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup starting Tuesday.

The inaugural ceremony will be held at the Kalinga Stadium in the state capital.  The entire city, including the iconic stadium, has been decked up to welcome international soccer stars from across the globe. While the stadium which has a seating capacity of 12,000 has been painted in traditional Sambalpuri attire colours, the football posters and banners have crowded the busy Bhubaneswar streets.

 “Players from all the countries except Chile have reached Bhubaneswar. The players are practicing at 7th battalion, Unit-1 and Capital High School grounds. We have made elaborate security arrangements for the event,” said Twin City Police Commissioner Saumendra Priyadarshi.

“A four-layer security arrangement has been made to ensure players safety, crowd and traffic management. Besides, bus arrangements have been made for school children,” the top cop informed.

 Notably, sixteen teams will fight for the top honours and 32 matches will be played across three venues Bhubaneswar, Navi Mumbai and Goa. The final will be played at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.

India fixtures:

India along with Brazil, USA and Morocco have been placed in Group A.

Matches:

11 October: India vs USA – 8 PM IST

14 October: India vs Morocco – 8 PM IST

17 October: Brazil vs India – 8 PM IST

The top two teams from the group will qualify for the quarter-finals.

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Photograph: Kalinga Stadium in Odisha capital Bhubaneswar