Kochi: The top tier of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here will remain vacant during the Fifa U-17 World Cup because Fifa deems it unsafe.
In a shocking revelation Javier Ceppi, tournament director for the WC, said that the stadium was “definitely” in danger while hosting 60,000-plus spectators during the ISL as it could have amounted to a stampede in case of an emergency.
“The fact that the ISL final was played here does not mean anything to us. The fact that somebody boasts that you can have 80,000 fans here is scary,” said Ceppi.
“This stadium is fit for 41,748 people and that is its capacity that will be used for the World Cup. Not a single person more.”
“We did an inspection with experts in terms of safe capacity for the stadium and it should never have people on the third tier, ever,” he said.
The reason being that the second and third tiers have the same entry and exit routes that would lead to about 12,000 clogged up in the upper sector during an emergency. “It is a safe evacuation matter and it is an international standard,” said Ceppi.
