By Amaechi Agbo

Nigeria’s Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo Thursday received the FIFA U-20 World Cup host inspection team in Presidential Villa, Abuja, Bestchoicesports.com.ng can report

The team visited the Aso Rock Villa in continuation of their assessment tour of the host cities in the country ahead of the 2020 FIFA U-20 World Cup where they got Federal Government 100 per cent assurance and support by the country to host the 10th FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup finals in 2020.

Nigeria’s number two citizen spoke when a team from world football –governing body, FIFA and accompanying officials of the Nigeria Football Federation and members of the Bid Committee paid him a courtesy call at the Presidential Villa.

“The Government of Nigeria guarantees to back the bid 100 per cent. We are actually excited with the prospect of hosting the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in 2020. For us, football is a unifying force. Government interest in hosting is beyond commercial; football is a measure of unity and well –being of our people as diverse as we are.”

Osinbajo promised that the Government will mobilize every apparatus to ensure a successful hosting, in the areas of infrastructure, security and other logistics.

The Vice President also stated that His Excellency President Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR) is an ardent football lover and is excited about Nigeria hosting the tournament and is in full support of the bid, while thanking the President of Nigeria Football Federation, Mr. Amaju Melvin Pinnick, the NFF leadership and the Bid Committee for putting forward a strong bid for Nigeria.

Earlier, NFF President Pinnick had informed Vice President Osinbajo about the excellent facilities present in the four proposed host cities – stadia, training sites, hotels, hospitals, road network, security and seamless air travel.

“We had warm welcome from their Excellencies the Governors and people of the four States, who had worked tirelessly to put in place the appropriate structure to host a successful and memorable tournament. Hosting the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in 2020 will leave a lot of legacies beyond the physical; it will impact on humanity.”

Pinnick traced the history of the U-20 Women’s World Cup, saying Nigeria had been an ever-present, and highlighted how the competition served as discovery forum for players like Asisat Oshoala, Desire Oparanozie and Rasheedat Ajibade who are now the leading lights of African women football and are known globally, and are also giving back to the next generation of young girls through NGOs and direct investment in the Nigeria economy. He thanked FIFA for considering Nigeria as a strong contender to host.

Leader of the FIFA team, Heyral Kaj Jurgen praised Vice President Osinbajo for the warm welcome the team received in all cities visited. With him were Christopher Exley (Security) and Kliment Taseski (Tournaments and Events).

The delegation to Vice President Osinbajo was led by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Mr. Olusade Adesola accompanied by the President of the Nigeria Olympic Committee, Engineer Habu Ahmed Gumel, and also included Barr. Seyi Akinwunmi (NFF 1st Vice President); Mallam Shehu Dikko (NFF 2nd Vice President); Dr. Mohammed Sanusi (NFF General Secretary); Ms Aisha Falode (Chairman of the Nigeria Women Football League); Alh. Mainasara Illo (Bid Coordinator); CP Umar Baba (NFF/Bid Committee Security Adviser); Dr. Paul Onyeudo (Medical); Dr. Emmanuel Ikpeme (NFF Deputy General Secretary) and; Chikelue Iloenyosi (SA to NFF President).

The FIFA team, which arrived in Nigeria through Lagos on Monday evening, inspected facilities in Lagos, Benin City, Asaba and Uyo, meeting with Governors Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Godwin Obaseki, Ifeanyi Okowa and Udom Emmanuel, who variously assured them of the keen interest and desire of their various governments and peoples to meet FIFA requirements for hosting the competition

The 2020 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup will be the 10th edition of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, the biennial international women’s youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 2002 as the FIFA U-19 Women’s World Championship (age limit was raised from 19 to 20 in 2008). It is set to be hosted by Nigeria and is also set to be the first ever FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Africa.

Japan are the defending champions, having won their first title in 2018.

On 25 July 2018, FIFA announced that bidding process had begun for the 2020 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup and the 2020 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. A member association was able to bid for both tournaments, with the caveat that two different hosts will be appointed.

The following associations declared interest in hosting the event by the deadline of 12 September 2018 – India and South Korea.

India was appointed as the host of the U-17 Women’s World Cup by FIFA on 15 March 2019 therefore was no longer eligible to be selected as host of the 2020 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.

After India and South Korea withdrew their bids, the bid process was reopened. On 19 July 2019 FIFA president Gianni Infantino sent a letter to the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF and Nigeria is in the running to host the 2020 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup. FIFA is currently conducting an inspection tour in Nigeria since Monday this week and a visit to the Presidency is one of the activities marked out for the inspection.

Best Choice Sports gathered that the FIFA inspection team were in the Aso Villa to get the Nigeria government’s assurances on the success of the hosting particularly on security issue in view of the fact that no host city was considered from the North obviously as a result of security threats

Four stadia: Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo, 30,000; Stephen Keshi Stadium, Asaba, 22,000; Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City, 20,000 and Onikan Arena, Lagos – 5,100; have all been penciled down and inspected by tje FIFA team to host the 16-team championship.

Should Nigeria gets FIFA’s nod to host the event, it will be the first time the nation is hosting any FIFA tournament in 11 years after the Nigeria 2009 U-17 championship.