‘UAE capable of hosting big football events’

‘UAE capable of hosting big football events’ James Jose / 22 August 2013 Fifa, the world’s governing body for football has backed the UAE to host a successful Under-17 World Cup. Inaki Alvarez, the Fifa Deputy Director of Competitions said that the UAE was capable of hosting an event of such magnitude and with success. Inaki Alvarez, Fifa Deputy Director of Competitions; Mohammed bin Bdoua, Tournament Director; during the Fifa and LOC venue inspection at Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium on Wednesday. — KT photo “I see UAE as very capable. I have no doubt that they are capable of hosting this event. They have already hosted several World Cups. So, they can do this. This is the biggest one as far as that is concerned. But they are very capable, I have no doubt,” Alvarez told the Khaleej Times at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium on Wednesday. Alvarez and his team were in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday and were wrapping up their final round of inspections of the six venues — Dubai, Al Ain, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah and Abu Dhabi — along with the Local Organising Committee (LOC). The inspections began last Friday in a bid to finalise preparations for the tournament, which plays out from October 17 to November 8. The official draw of the Tournament will be held in Abu Dhabi next Monday. “Most of the international football stars you see playing today started their careers at the Fifa U-17 World Cup. This is a developmental tournament and with the UAE’s focus on building a legacy in football, it seemed like the perfect fit to bring the event here,” he said. “The beauty about this tournament is that every host city takes the Fifa U-17 World Cup and makes it their own, and the UAE is no different. I am confident that this event will be a great experience for the country as a host nation, for the participating teams and for the fans coming down to support their players,” he added. Hosting a world class sporting event is not new to the UAE. The UAE successfully hosted the Fifa Club World Cup twice. Alvarez refused to be drawn on rating one city over another and said that the focus was on getting them to a state of readiness. “I’m not going to rate one city over another. They are all working hard we need them to get to the finish line at the same time, in a good quality and in a state of readiness. That is what we need to focus on right now,” he said. Alvarez was pleased with the progress made but added that a lot more needs to be done. “We are just finishing completion of the second last visit of all the venues, the stadiums, all the training sites and hotels. And right now, we are 55 days from kick-off. It is a very critical time for us. So, what we can report is that on the infrastructure side atleast, we have seen a lot of progress. Much more remains to be done yet. But we see that it is moving in the right direction. So, we are optimistic in that sense. “The other area that we really have to start focussing on is the people’s side, the organisation. I think here we need to show more attention because this is the details – about hospitality, about customer service. We have time but we need to be focussing on it,” said Alvarez. The Fifa’s Competitions team will be back for the last round of scheduled inspections from October 2–8 during which they will do a dry run of all the systems at the stadiums. He stressed the importance on ensuring that the infrastructure and organisation in place for the tournament are in line with Fifa’s international quality standards. “What needs to improve is the coming together as venue organisations. One hand knows what the  other hand is doing and the timings and the levels of service. We want to provide and want to show the world. On the physical side, my main concern right now is the training site. The teams spend most of their time at the training site. We have 25 of them if we include the referees. We need to make a push to get them to the standard that we are looking for,” he said. james@khaleejtimes.com Taylor Scott International