FIFA commends Jordan on successful tournament

AMMAN — Jordan did “a really wonderful job” organising the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, a FIFA official said on Wednesday.

“From our side, we can say this tournament has been a real success, and everyone involved can be very proud of their achievements,” FIFA’s Director of Women’s Competitions Tatjana Haenni said during a joint press conference held by FIFA and the tournament’s Local Organising Committee (LOC), according to a statement on the football association’s website.

“Filling stadiums for women’s youth football matches is a challenge everywhere in the world. Considering the background here in Jordan, I think the LOC have done extremely well in this respect, and hopefully we will see even more spectators when Jordan hosts the AFC Women’s Championship in 2018,” Haenni added.

Samar Nassar, CEO of the LOC, said that building the infrastructure, stadiums and 14 training fields to meet FIFA’s standards was very significant, noting that Jordan had also succeeded in training staff to “a high level”.

Taking those steps will undoubtedly help support Jordanian football going forward, and benefit the community too, Nassar highlighted.

Salah Sabra, the chairman of the LOC, said that “it has been a very successful, fruitful tournament for us”.

“The Jordanian people have got behind the tournament and proved, as we hoped they would, to be our 12th player. No one can deny that this tournament has provided a lot of gains for this country,” Sabra added.

During the presser, it was also confirmed that FIFA President Gianni Infantino will attend Friday’s final between North Korea and Japan.

The match will be held at the Amman International Stadium.