No decision on U-19 World Cup venue: FIFA boss

Kolkata: World football governing body chief Gianni Infantino, on Friday, described the FIFA U-17 World Cup as a "resounding success" but refrained from giving any commitment on the country's bid to host the U-20 World Cup in 2019.

Infantino, who addressed the media after the FIFA Council Meeting here, declared a football continent and said that FIFA will continue to work with India to continue the momentum generated by the successful hosting of the FIFA World Cup.

"The FIFA U-17 World Cup in India is a resounding success with some records broken. India is not only a country but a continent in itself. But I have now found out that India is also not only a football country but is a football continent. The way the (FIFA U-17) World Cup has been perceived by the people of India has been amazing," said Infantino during a media conference.

"Having seen the U-17 World Cup in India, I can say that it was worth allotting this to India. There was very good competition among teams and attendance was amazing. Not only the U-17 World Cup record, it can even break the all time attendance record in an U-20 World Cup which is 1.3 million spectators in the 2011 Colombia edition."

Asked whether FIFA will consider India's bid to host the 2019 U-20 World Cup despite the fact that South Korea, another Asian country, has hosted the tournament earlier this year, Infantino was non-committal. "This year, there were two World Cups this year.

The U-20 World Cup in South Korea was a successful one and then this U-17 World Cup in India has also been a success. We have received request from several countries expressing desire to host the 2019 U-20 World Cup.