Tag Archives: soccer

Indonesia’s unexpected second chance of hosting a global soccer tournament gets underway Friday when the Under-17 World Cup kicks off in Surabaya.

The soccer-loving nation of almost 280 million is determined to put on its best show, on and off the field, just months after it was stripped of the Under-20 World Cup hosting rights amid political turmoil over Israel’s participation.

Soccer’s international governing body took the drastic action in March, just eight weeks before the Under-20 tournament was scheduled to start, and Indonesian sports leaders feared long-term sanctions.

That event was shifted to Argentina at short notice, with Uruguay beating Italy in the final in June, and Israel placing third.

In the same month,…

Ms Gillett said what was pleasing was spending looked to have benefit the whole city, not just the central business district. This was both due to visitors staying in accommodation spread across the city and, such as with music festival Spilt Milk, locals tending to stay in their own patch for shopping.