PNG ready to Host FIFA U20 Womens World Cup

The Tokara and June Valley Community in Port Moresby welcoming the USA U20 Womens team at the Jacksons International Airport in PNG.

Sunday will see the opening of the FIFA U20 womens World Cup in Port Moresby, the eight edition of the tournament.

The Capital City of Papua New Guinea has had 18 months to prepare for the 4 week tournament that will see more than 300 female athletes from 16 countries battle to claim the FIFA U20 Women’s trophy.

The tournament will run from the 13th of November to the 3rd of December 2016,

So far the four venues at the Sir John Guise Stadium, The PNG Football Stadium and Bava Stadium are being prepared right on to schedule, the final of the visiting fifteen teams USA arrived on Thursday.

The fifteen teams that have qualified are Ghana Nigeria Japan Korea DPR Korea Republic France Germany Spain Sweden Canada Mexico USA New Zealand Papua New Guinea Brazil Venezuela and will be taking part in the tournament hosted by Papua New Guinea in the capital city Port Moresby.

Host Papua New Guinea are in Pool A with Brazil Sweeden and Korea DPR, Pool B is Spain, Canada, Nigeria and Japan, Pool C is France, USA, Ghana and New Zealand, While Germany, Venezuela, Mexico and South Korea (Korea Republic) are in Pool D

Over 120 million viewers are expected to watch the tournament worldwide and the schedule can be seen on the link (here)

The First games will be played on Sunday November 13th where the Pool A games will see Sweeden  play Korea DPR in the first match at 4pm PNG time while the Host PNG will play Brazil at 7pm PNG time.

Pool B matches will be played at the Bava Stadium where Canada will take on Spain at 4pm and Japan will take on Nigeria at 7pm. Pool C and D will play on Monday

Papua New Guinea is a country where traditional values and customs remain strong. There are only limited signs of globalisation in what is still a mostly monocultural society. Like many great sporting events, the 2016 U-20 Women’s World Cup is a chance for various cultures to mix and learn from each other. This was the idea behind PNG mobilising their various villages, church and community groups for the welcome.

“We want to give warm smiles and love and affection to the countries that are coming here, a real PNG welcome,” PNG Sports Minister, Hon. Justin Tkatchenko told FIFA.com. “At the end of the day we want to show what the Pacific is all about and what we are trying to achieve with our sporting events.

“We want to be ambassadors of our country, and have our visitors go away and say, ‘What a wonderful country it is and what a wonderful people they are’.

“We also plan to take the visitors on off days to designated areas of the city and be welcomed by mothers and young women. We hope to give them a new experience that they would never have had before, how our people live, what our cultures are. They can take that memory back home that they have not just stayed, but been to the grassroots and seen the real life of our people.

“It will be a benefit to the locals too of course. They heard of the Rio Olympics in Brazil, but perhaps have never met a Brazilian person before. It is about meeting a different person and a different culture."

The family culture that permeates throughout the Pacific is undoubtedly a primary underlining theme, “These are the daughters of families across the world, and throughout the Pacific there is a strong family orientated nature. So it is about taking care of our guests while they are here, welcoming them to the Papua New Guinea family and ensuring they are looked after before they return home,” said Seamus Marten, chief executive of the Local Organising Committee.

“This is a chance for proud Papua New Guineans to show their culture, their warmth and to welcome international guests. It is a really unique place and there is no bigger platform to promote that side of the country than a FIFA World Cup.”

And it’s fair to say each and every team was thrilled by their reception. “It was great that at 5am in the morning a whole school class was waiting for us – simply to say ‘Hello’,” Germany coach Maren Meinert told FIFA.com.

“It shows how much interest the people have in presenting themselves as a country at a big sports event. It is great to see how happy the people are. They put their hearts into it to making the World Cup happen here, and that is really nice."

If first impressions are the most enduring, then the people of Papua New Guinea will long be remembered by every single visitor at the 2016 U-20 Women’s World Cup.