PANAJI: The government may still go ahead with an opening ceremony of its own despite Fifa , the governing body for world football, making it clear that the focus should be on the opening match where India will play in a tournament of such stature for the first time.

Fifa is not in favour of an opening ceremony on October 5 ­ a day before the tournament kicks off in the Capital and has already denied the government permission to host the ceremony at the Nehru Stadium which will host matches the next day, including one that pits India against the United States.

The government, however, wants a platform to showcase itself and may now go ahead with the plans at Indira Gandhi stadium.

"An opening ceremony is not a usual aspect of the conduct of a Fifa U-17 World Cup, because in these tournaments football is the real star. There was a query by government of India at some point of time to do one but it is not confirmed that it will happen," said tournament director Javier Ceppi .

"For us, the most important thing is what actually happens on the ground and the complete focus of the nation should be on October 6 when the Indian national anthem is played for the first time in a Fifa World Cup. At the end of the day, not too many people remember an opening ceremony, but almost everyone will remember the first time India ever played in a football World Cup and our attention and energy should be directed towards that," he added.

With less than 50 days to go for the event, the All India Football Federation ( AIFF ) too has been left in the dark, although there has been widespread talk that the government intends to spend Rs 10 crore on the event which will include a 10-minute address from Prime Minister Narendra Modi .

"The government was planning but I am not sure whether it will happen now. It's the government's call and we may know in the next couple of days," said AIFF general secretary Kushal Das .

The sports ministry had earlier succeeded in convincing AIFF to move India's group matches from Navi Mumbai to Delhi, despite the apparent lack of spectator interest in the tournament. Until the draw last month, Delhi's response to ticket sales was among the poorest. The U-17 World Cup will be played at six venues across the country. India will be based in Delhi and have been grouped with United States, Colombia and Ghana.

