On Saturday morning when I was returning home from my football coaching, the Instagram account of 25-year-old professional woman footballer Brishti Bagchi, the first Indian woman to play in the American Women's Soccer League and someone who I follow, was to give me news that made me super excited. I read that India was going to host the U17 Women's World Cup in 2020 and I started jumping around in the car. My mother was driving up the hills, overtaking and all, and she asked me to keep still because...

India have been awarded the 2020 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, their second FIFA event inside three years after having hosted the 2017 variant of the same event in men's football.

While the dates and venues haven't been decided yet, with the former yet to be pencilled in within FIFA's own calendar of events, here's what India can learn from the 2017 event, and how best to apply those lessons in 2020.

In terms of organisation, there should be no issues

The 2017 World Cup proved that India can put...

Midfielder Oinam Bembem Devi is India's most-capped woman footballer (85 caps, 32 goals) who played between 1995 and 2016. She was the first AIFF Woman Footballer of the Year in 2001, and added a second such award in 2013. She retired from international football by leading India to the South Asian Games gold in Shillong in 2016. She also became the second Indian woman footballer to win the Arjuna Award in 2017. She was player-manager for Eastern Sporting Union, Manipur when they won the inaugural...