Christchurch in 2015 Under 20 World Cup Hosting... | Stuff.co.nz

Christchurch?officials?hope to persuade a delegation from football's ruling body to allow?the city?to host matches in the 2015 under-20 World Cup.

New Zealand Football won the right to host the?tournament and is?working with Fifa to allocate matches to host cities.

Fifa delegates?will arrive in Christchurch on Sunday for two days of meetings with city council representatives and members of the city's tourism, sports and hospitality industries who want to convince them that Christchurch should be one of the?host cities.

Mayor Bob Parker said football was the world's most popular sport and the?event?would be a great opportunity to showcase the city.

The tournament?would be televised in more than 200 territories around the world, with an?audience of almost 470 million viewers.

Hosting even the minimum?number of matches available would be worth at?least 6800 international visitor nights and bring in potentially $4.3 million to $5.4m to the local economy.

Council recreation and sport manager John Filsell said having the best young players in the world playing here would encourage youngsters to take up the sport and broaden the appeal of football throughout the community.

He?said Christchurch had?hosted Fifa events before.

"We hosted matches from the under-17 women's World Cup in 2008 and the under 17 men's World Cup in 1999. We have the experience and resources to host a great tournament here," he said.

A maximum of eight New Zealand cities will have the opportunity to host World Cup events, and Christchurch officials are optimistic that the city will win the support of Fifa delegates.

A decision on the allocation of matches is expected to be made at the end of next month.

- ? Fairfax NZ News

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Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/sport/8195657/Christchurch-in-World-Cup-bid

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