FIFA Considers Nigeria For U20 Women’s World Cup Hosting

Federation of International Football Association (Fifa) is considering a bid from Nigeria for the hosting rights of the U20 Women’s World Cup for next year.
India and South Korea submitted bids for the 2020 U20 Women’s World Cup with the former named the 2020 U17 Women’s World Cup hosts in March.
Now, Fifa is reportedly looking beyond the Asian continent for the host of the U20 women’s event, hence Nigeria has a chance to become the first to stage a Fifa women’s tournament in Africa.
Sources close to Nigerian government authorities have disclosed that a bid was submitted following the reopening of the bidding process which initially elapsed last September.
In 2009, Nigeria successfully staged the 13th edition of the Fifa U17 World Cup which was won by Switzerland, with the Golden Eaglets finishing as runners-up, a success they aim to leverage on.
“We’ve [Nigeria] tendered a bid to host the Fifa U-20 Women’s World Cup and we believe we stand a bright chance of winning the hosting rights,” a source told  newsmen.
“It has been a while, about 10 years now that we last hosted a major tournament. We think getting to host this tournament will be the beginning of great things for Nigeria sports, not just football.
“Many will be worried about Ahmad Ahmad and Amaju Pinnick’s fallout at Caf but Nigeria still has a strong presence in the international community of football. Let’s wait and see”, he said.
Corroborating development, a top NFF official close to Fifa confirmed officials of the world governing body are scheduled to visit the country next month for an inspection.
“Fifa are indeed considering handing Nigeria hosting rights of the 2020 U-20 Women’s World Cup,” the NFF official  said.
“Fifa are also sending their officials here for an inspection tour in August and they will also support us to host with at least $4m.
“This will not be a burden to the Nigeria government when you eventually get the hosting rights. It’s an opportunity to develop our sporting infrastructures across the country”, he said.
Nigeria has participated in all the previous nine editions of the 16-nation competition and progressed to the final twice, before losing to Germany on the two occasions.
Japan are the defending champions of the U20 Women’s World Cup following their 3-1 final triumph over Spain in France in 2018.