‘Refurbished’ Kalinga Stadium In Bhubaneswar All Set To Host FIFA U-17Women’s World Cup; Check Recent Additions

Bhubaneswar: The stage is set for FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup at Kalinga stadium in Odisha capital with refurbished seats, new pitches and state-of-the-art facilities.

Host India – drawn alongside USA, Morocco and Brazil – will be playing all of its group-stage games at this iconic stadium in Bhubaneswar on October 11, 14 and 17. The event will kick off at the venue with an opening ceremony and two matches.

“The main pitch and four practice grounds with natural grass have been set up in accordance with the standards of the world football governing body FIFA,” Sports Secretary Vineel Krishna told PTI while speaking about projects taken up to upgrade and renovate the stadium, including the entire stand, for the tournament.

The Bermuda grass of the field was imported and the lighting system was done anew. While the seats at the stadium have been replaced, the seating capacity remains the same – around 12,000. Two world-class football training centres — Odisha Football Academy and the Capital Football Arena – have also been constructed at the venue, which is also the home venue for Odisha FC of Indian Super League.

“New functional areas have been created. VIP boxes and dugouts have also been upgraded. A lot of the renovation has been done in phases over the last two to three years at an estimated cost of around Rs 90 crore,” he was quoted as saying by the news agency.

Beautification, wall painting and cleaning of the surroundings were also taken up, Krishna added.

The offline sale of tickets for India’s first-ever FIFA women’s competition – priced at Rs 100 and Rs 200 – at Gate 4A, of Kalinga Stadium from October 4.

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While 16 teams will vie 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.