Pop sensation Justin Bieber is coming to India this year to take the young music fans by storm. The 22-year-old Canadian is performing in India for the first time, much to the shock and awe of the plenty of 'Beliebers' around the country, and the event may help other artists tour India in future.
READ: Top sporting events in India in 2017
Metallica, Poets of the Fall, Coldplay and now Bieber touring India — the music scene in the country is developing and the presence of these stars is creating a major impact. Everything seems to be going right in 'One Direction', but...
Maybe not.
Bieber posted on Twitter this Wednesday that he is coming to India for a performance on May 10 at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai. Yes, that's a good venue, although the Global Citizen Festival concert last year, headlined by the legendary Coldplay, took place at the MMRDA Grounds, Bandra-Kurla complex, Mumbai, which has a slightly more capacity (more than 60,000) than the DY Patil Stadium (55,000 capacity).
But we are talking about the 'Purpose' star Bieber here... and Coldplay. There shouldn't be any debate about who is more popular and who has a greater legacy.
So DY Patil it is for Justin Bieber's India concert. If we look at one of the biggest sporting events in the country happening later this year — the FIFA U17 World Cup — and the venues hosting the tournament, we get a shocker.
The DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai is one of the venues of the greatest tournament in the history of Indian football. Is there a problem? Yes.
Football fans are fuming
Ahead of the U-17 World Cup, not a single venue, including the grand Salt Lake stadium in Kolkata, is available for local matches or even the matches featuring East Bengal and Mohun Bagan.
Even Atletico de Kolkata played their ISL 2016 matches at the Rabindra Sarobar stadium — the current home ground for Mohun Bagan in the I-League this season. Also, the iconic Kolkata derby featuring Bagan and East Bengal took place this February at the Kanchenjunga Stadium in Siliguri.
Reason for all this: The Salt Lake Stadium is going through a complete renovation, and the organisers are leaving no stones unturned to make the stadium a world-class venue.
In Mumbai, the Indian Super League (ISL) side from the region, Mumbai City FC, played their matches last year at the Mumbai Football Arena, giving the DY Patil Stadium a miss ahead of the FIFA tournament.
In the I-League, Mumbai FC play their home matches at the Cooperage Ground. All these football teams are doing everything possible to let the ground staff at the DY Patil Stadium continue with their work, in an effort to prepare the stadium for the tournament.
Even the IPL 2017 matches for Mumbai Indians are going to be held at the Wankhede Stadium.
The rules, however, are different for Justin Bieber. His concert seems to be more important than any historic sporting tournament, which does not involve cricket, in the nation.
Tournament organiser happy with the concert?
While football fans scratch their heads over the timing of Bieber's concert, Javier Ceppi, the tournament director at Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the FIFA U17 World Cup, is not too worried.
"We have discussed in detail with DY Patil how important will this concert be on the preparation for the World Cup. There is no better test than a full stadium, where everything gets stretched, where you can see the people flow movement, all the services tested to its limit," said Ceppi to Goal India.
"We are happy that DY Patil is hosting this concert, as it is a huge step for the operational readiness of the facility and we hope that the other stadiums can arrange similar high profile events to test the operations. This is key for the success of the tournament."
According to the report, FIFA officials will conduct the final inspection of the stadium on March 20.
The FIFA U17 World Cup in India starts on October 6.
