Kolkata: Arguably the best football stadium in Asia, Kolkata’s Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan will spot a new look for the forthcoming FIFA U’17 World Cup in October. The 88000 capacity stadium will showcase the football fans across the world in it’s new grandeur. The stadium will be hosting 10 matches including the final to be played on October 28. It will also host a quarter final match, a third place match along with a pre-quarter final in addition to five group league matches.
The rennovation work at the stadium is in full swing as the authorities are supposed to hand over the satdium to the Tournament Committee by the end of June.
In order to see the progress of work at the venue, the Union Minister of State for Youth Affair and Sports, Vijay Goel will be making a visit tomorrow to Kolkata.
Mr Goel is scheduled to arrive to the city of joy on 4th and would go to the stadium the following day.
He would spend around two hours to take a trip at the ground. He is also supposed to visit the adjacent two training grounds and oversee the facilities.
There are four training grounds in place as per FIFA guidelines , two inside the complex and two at the SAI complex. Mr.Goel will also attend a meeting with eminent football players like Subhash Bhowmik, Alok Mukherjee, Atanu Bhattacharjee, Sishir Ghosh etc. in the Conference hall of SAI.
Yuva Bharati Krirangan acronymed as YBK is home to the city giants Mohun Bagan and East Bengal. Over thousands and thousands of fans have been to the world’s second largest stadium before but they are yet to view the new look YBK. Never seen before, there have been some incredible changes in the stadium.
A huge structure resembling a football will welcome the delegates at the VIP entrance. Several murals of footballers have already been installed at the main porch of the stadium. The passage leading to the dressing rooms has also got a face-lift with several art-works. The dressing room itself has gone for a complete change with new look dope testing rooms, referee rooms and room for ball boys.
Coming into the main stadium, the turf has already been relaid including the synthetic track. The work is already in its final stages for the installation of bucket seats across the entire stadium. 90% of the bucket type chairs have already been installed with a little more work remaining at the VIP boxes and corporate boxes. The track beside the ground has been placed and is ready for use.
The press conference room along with the press box and media centre has also got a huge facelift. A special room for the FIFA representatives has also been in place as the venue will be the headquarters during the event.
Come the October 08, when the ball will set rolling at the new look Yuva Bharati Krirangan.
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