FIFA Puts Ghana On Standby

World football governing body FIFA has placed Ghana on standby to host next year's FIFA U-17 World Cup at short notice because of concerns about substandard facilities put forward by Nigeria which officially has the rights to organise the tournament. The body is concerned over Nigeria 2009 despite the assurances given by the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for Nigeria 2009 when the Alhaji Sani Lulu Abdullahi-led Committee made a presentation in Zurich on its preparations for the event, including details of the venues and stadiums, accommodation and transport concepts, ticketing plans and LOC organisational structures. The provisional date for the tournament in Nigeria is for 24 October to 15 November 2009. A FIFA inspection team led by Vice President Jack Warner gave Nigeria a damning report when the team inspected some of the facilities which the Local Organising Committee put forward early last month. The team toured relevant facilities in five of the nine cities which Nigeria proposed as tournament venues. But after the first working itinerary, it was only Abuja that got a nod of approval from the Warner team which scored Lagos and Warri low on all grade indices. A CAF source said on Tuesday that FIFA is giving serious consideration to Ghana as the alternative host in the event Nigeria fails to convince the body about the readiness of its facilities before the return of the FIFA inspection delegation in August. It is understood that Ghana's candidacy is enhanced by the impressive facilities which it presented in the four centres where the Nations Cup finals were staged in January. But apart from that, its impressive success rate in the FIFA U-17 World Cup count on almost the same scale with Nigeria, and this is seen as a boost to its candidacy. Another thing going for the former Gold Coast is that West Africa would still be retaining the rights to the second FIFA U-17 World Cup to be hosted in Africa in the event FIFA awards it to Ghana at the last minute. But any decision to cancel Nigeria 2009 would be a hard knock for Nigeria which was similarly jolted by FIFA in 1995 on trumped-up security and health issues. However, the country staged a stunning comeback in what Warner dubbed "the 8th wonder of the world" to host the event four years later. This Day