Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

The Azerbaijani capital Baku hosted a spectacular opening ceremony of the U-17 women's world soccer cup at the Tofig Bahramov Republican Stadium on September 22 with the participation of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva, FIFA's President Joseph Blatter and other distinguished guests.

The tournament opened with a magnificent show and music program specially prepared for the U-17 Women's World Cup by world-famous Cirque du Soleil, followed by the performance of American pop star Jennifer Lopez, local dancers and volunteers, who showed the sporting and cultural components of the ancient Azerbaijani traditions. About 30,000 people watched the show and the following match.

After the opening ceremony, the match between Azerbaijan and Colombia kicked off. President Aliyev and FIFA President Blatter welcomed the players of both teams, and wished them success. Colombia won the game with a score of 4-0.

"I want to congratulate Colombia on this victory. Although it was 4-0 against us, this opening game was a great occasion," Azerbaijan coach Sissy Raith said.

According to the draw held on July 6, Group A consists of Azerbaijan, Columbia, Nigeria and Canada. Group B includes France, the United States, North Korea, and Gambia, while Group C -- Mexico, New Zealand, Brazil and Japan, and vying in Group D are Germany, China, Uruguay and Ghana.

As the tournament went underway the participating teams showed great determination to win, such as North Korea's 11 goals in one of the first matches of the tournament.

However, according to Tatjana Haenni, FIFA Head of Women's Competitions, it is hard to name the favorites.

"If you look back at the last tournament in 2010, Korea Republic won in Trinidad and Tobago, but did not qualify for this event, so I really think it is hard to say. I think it will be very interesting to see the teams' performances and it's really hard to pick any one team," Haenni told FIFA.com.

Newly organized Azeri team

Commenting on her decision to come to Azerbaijan to head the national team, coach Raith told FIFA.com, "I thought to myself: That sounds right up your street. It's so crazy, I have to take it."

Raith cut her teeth as a coach from 2002 to 2008 with Women's Bundesliga side Bayern Munich. In 2009 she moved on to her hometown club TSV Eching and earned promotion into the regional leagues with the men's team.

"When I arrived in Azerbaijan, women's football was not in the best of health," Raith said. "We had to start from a scratch. It has been a real joy for me to pick players and then help them to improve. It was tough at the beginning, but today we have a group of women who can be considered proper footballers."

Raith has achieved a great deal for girls' football in Azerbaijan. In her relatively short tenure so far, U-15 and U-17 leagues have been established, and the national team for the latter category has also been set up.

Having never qualified for the finals of a FIFA women's tournament at any age category, Azerbaijan's U-17 team has nevertheless made significant progress under Raith command, which is proven by recent impressive victories in friendly matches with Moldova (4-0), Kazakhstan (2-0) and Latvia (4-0).

Intensive preparation coupled with Raith's tactical know-how could well take the team further than expected in the tournament. Whatever their results during the event, the coach is already more than satisfied by what has already been achieved.

"There's a lot of hype over here. It'll be a three-week party, the likes of which a U-17 World Cup has maybe never seen before. The city will spruce itself up as they say. The people who come to Baku or Azerbaijan will be enthralled, I am sure of it. And I'm really looking forward to it," the coach said.

The FIFA President, after meeting with the Azerbaijani President, opening of the soccer tournament and watching some games, at the end of his visit praised the organization led by the Azerbaijani football association president Rovnag Abdulayev and Local Organizing Committee (LOC) chairman Elkhan Mammadov for a fantastic organization of the event so far.

Taking into account that this sport is not well developed in the country, the LOC, Azerbaijan's football organization and the government have helped to make a miracle, doing their best to get more people involved in the event, including the Trophy Tour around the country, Fan Zone and other undertakings.

World Cup in details

The U-17 Women's World Cup follows hot on the traces of the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Japan 2012 and the Women's Olympic Football Tournament in London, and the first FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in Eurasia.

Hosting grounds for the championship games are five stadiums in Baku -- Tofig Bahramov Republican stadium, Shafa stadium, Dalga Arena, 8th km stadium, Bail stadium and the central stadium in Lankaran, southern Azerbaijan.

Alongside women's football giants such as USA, Germany, Brazil and Japan, there are several newcomers as Gambia, China, Uruguay and hosts Azerbaijan, all making their tournament debuts.

The first U-17 Women's World Cup championship was held in New Zealand in 2008, while the second FIFA U-17 took place in Trinidad and Tobago in 2010.

Azerbaijan was set to host the third championship according to the FIFA Executive Committee's decision passed on March 19, 2010.