{"id":173955,"date":"2025-11-10T23:10:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T23:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/173955\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T23:10:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T23:10:08","slug":"ireland-make-waves-at-under-17-world-cup-in-qatar-where-a-park-is-the-host-venue-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/173955\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland make waves at Under-17 World Cup in Qatar, where a park is the host venue \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Minutes before last Thursday\u2019s under-17 group-stage game between Senegal and Costa Rica kicked-off in Doha, a group of energetic infants were enjoying themselves near the pitch. \u201cDoes anyone own these children?\u201d shouted a concerned policeman as he broke up their fun. The officer\u2019s query was greeted with laughter by spectators within earshot.<\/p>\n

This perhaps sums up the 2025 Fifa<\/a> Under-17 World Cup. Played in the Aspire Zone, a sprawling park of eight pitches in west Doha, Qatar<\/a>, it resembles more an overblown picnic than the highest-level football tournament for players of school-going age. <\/p>\n

Gary Spain, the FAI<\/a>\u2019s supporter liaison officer, compared it with major competitions he has previously attended. \u201cIt\u2019s much more intimate,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can actually see the players up close.\u201d <\/p>\n

I was reminded of this as two North Korean players passed underneath my eyeline during the Ivory Coast-Mexico game.<\/p>\n

For Ireland<\/a>, making their first appearance at a male World Cup in 22 years, this has been a fantastic tournament. The team comprehensively beat Panama 4-1<\/a> in their opener, before coming<\/a> from behind to beat <\/a>Uzbekistan<\/a> on Saturday to secure a place in the last 32.<\/p>\n

Previously a biennial event, this year\u2019s tournament is the first of five that will be hosted annually in Qatar. Surprisingly, Fifa has declined to use any of the 2022 World Cup stadiums \u2013 not even for Qatar\u2019s games. It has opted instead for the training pitches of the Aspire. The tournament final will be an exception in this regard, as it will be hosted at the nearby Khalifa Stadium, which has capacity for 45,000 spectators.<\/p>\n

The lack of stadium facilities perhaps devalues the tournament, but the advantage is that fans can watch multiple matches in an afternoon. Heider, an Iraqi-born Mancunian who moved to Qatar last year for work, saw three further games after watching England beat Haiti 8-1. \u201cThe nice thing is you can bob in and out of matches,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"RuanRuan Pablo of Brazil celebrates with teammates after scoring against Indonesia in the Fifa Under-17 World Cup group match against Indonesia in Doha, Qatar. Photograph: Noushad Thekkayil\/NurPhoto via Getty Images <\/p>\n

A day pass costs just under \u20ac5. The addition of a Prime Pitch Match \u2013 of which Ireland v Paraguay on Tuesday is one such game \u2013 costs just over \u20ac7. Like Heider, most fans here are from Qatar\u2019s numerous immigrant communities that make up almost 90 per cent of the population. Indonesia had the biggest support of any nation so far in their meeting with Brazil.<\/p>\n

Michael O\u2019Sullivan, former chairman of Limerick FC, was with his wife visiting their engineer son and heard the tournament was on at the same time. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was opportunity to come and see Ireland play,\u201d said O\u2019Sullivan. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing for a team to play in a World Cup. We know with the senior team how rare this happens.\u201d <\/p>\n

The players\u2019 families naturally make up another large sector. Alongside the Irish players\u2019 relatives, we come across the father of Canada\u2019s Richard Chukwu, Senegal\u2019s Malick Lo and 15-year-old New Zealand goalkeeper Will Martin. Though born in Australia, Martin qualifies to play for New Zealand through his Kiwi father, Will Sr. New Zealand coach Martin Bullock was sent videos of the youngster in action and was sufficiently impressed with his goalkeeping prowess. <\/p>\n

Scouts are often spotted in the Aspire Zone with their notebooks at the ready, as are coaches from various nations catching a glimpse of future opponents. <\/p>\n

El Hadji Dieng founded the Be Sport Academy in Dakar. \u201cIt is a good chance for these players to have visibility because they want to be professional players and this platform gives them that,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Spain agrees, concluding that the tournament offers a glimpse of \u201cthe stars of the future\u201d. He recalls watching Jeff Hendrick and Robbie Brady at previous youth tournaments. <\/p>\n

This is something Fifa is keen to bring visibility to. However, while Lionel Messi played in this tournament, Cristiano Ronaldo and current Ballon d\u2019Or winner Ousmane Dembele never did. Nor did two of the most exciting talents of the past decade \u2013 Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 and Lamine Yamal. <\/p>\n

Sadly, few players from these tournaments move on to senior level. Taken on its own merit as a standalone tournament, however, it can be seen as a symbol of hope for countries like Ireland. There are signs of light at the end of a 22-year tunnel of disappointment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Minutes before last Thursday\u2019s under-17 group-stage game between Senegal and Costa Rica kicked-off in Doha, a group of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":173956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[9941,4957,99189,6742,82971,99190,99191,99192,18,59681,99193,22,94767,99194,3519,6061,65245,19,1452,17,24429,11204,34434,60024,1601,99195,9351,96898,5588,99196,50620,99197,99198,132,9434,26518,99199],"class_list":{"0":"post-173955","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-across","9":"tag-action","10":"tag-action-shot","11":"tag-asian","12":"tag-athletic","13":"tag-ball","14":"tag-ball-game","15":"tag-eh-match","16":"tag-eire","17":"tag-field","18":"tag-fifa-u-17-world-cup-2025","19":"tag-football","20":"tag-footwear","21":"tag-forward","22":"tag-game","23":"tag-group","24":"tag-heads","25":"tag-ie","26":"tag-international","27":"tag-ireland","28":"tag-jersey","29":"tag-kick","30":"tag-moving","31":"tag-outdoor","32":"tag-person","33":"tag-pitch-flag","34":"tag-play","35":"tag-player","36":"tag-players","37":"tag-red-hoodie","38":"tag-round","39":"tag-soccerball","40":"tag-soccerplayer","41":"tag-sports","42":"tag-team","43":"tag-the-one","44":"tag-u17"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115527930856016302","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}