The HPFA brings another moment of pride and honor for the state as Deepak Sharma, General Secretary of Himachal Pradesh Football Association and member of All India Football Federation executive committee has been invited by FIFA and AIFF to attend Official Draw of FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017. The event will take place at Hotel Sahara Star, Mumbai on Friday, 7 July 2017.
The anthem for the FIFA U-17 World Cup, written by Amitabh Bhattacharya and music composed by Pritam will also be launched on the night of the draw.
Deepak Sharma said that this is an honour for me and my state to be a part of this function. He said, “This mega sporting event is set to take place in 6 venues across India from 6th to 28th October 2017”. HPFA is working dedicatedly towards creating Infrastructure and eco-system for development of Football in Himachal Pradesh so that national and international football matches could be hosted in the state in near future; he added.
24 countries will be participating in the World Cup, from six different confederations. From Asia- Iran, Iraq, Japan and DPR ‘North’ Korea have qualified from the 2016 U-16 Championship while India has been given a spot on account of being the host nation. From Africa- Ghana, Guinea, Mali and Niger have progressed from 2017 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations.