Kochi hosting biggest teams of FIFA U-17 World Cup: Ceppi

The football fans in Kochi should be the happiest in the country as the city would be hosting the group matches of powerhouses Brazil, Spain and Germany in the upcoming FIFA Under-17 World Cup, a top official of the organising committee said today.

Tournament Director of the Local Organising Committee for FIFA U-17 World Cup, Javier Ceppi said he expected the fans here to show up in large numbers in group matches, especially for what will be the venue opener between Spain and Brazil.

"One city located in the southern part of India was surely the happiest. The city with some crazy football fans is not only getting an opportunity to witness a FIFA tournament live for the first time in their city but also getting a chance to probably host three of the biggest title contenders with Brazil, Spain and Germany all set to play their group stage games between October 7 and 13," Ceppi said at a press conference.

"To be honest, a Brazil versus Spain game in a World Cup is as big as it gets and fans in Kochi need to step up and show the true spirit that we know it for," he added.

Talking about ticket sales, Ceppi said, "We want Kochi to support all teams, we have not seen it yet, we thought we are going to see a sell out for all Brazil matches. Brazil, Spain as well as Germany are playing in Kochi and we were expecting a sell out in two hours like we saw in Kolkata." Besides the group stage matches featuring Spain, Brazil, Germany amongst others, the venue will host a Round of 16 and a quarterfinal game as well.

A tremendous response from the fans saw 100 per cent ticket sales in the first two phases and Ceppi was confident that the ticket sales will rise again with a little more than two months for the tournament to kick off.

"The sales in Kochi have not been bad. Looking at phase 1 and 2, we are not sure why the trend has not continued. We are not getting into a situation where fans' interest is a problem. We are confident fans will buy. Brazil vs Spain in a World Cup game is by far the biggest international game to be played in India and we are confident fans will come in huge numbers to witness this historic game," he said.

The third phase of the ticket sales started on July 21 with individual match tickets at 25 per cent discount.

Fans in Kochi have a chance to be a part of the history with ticket prices starting at as low as Rs 60 per game.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)