THE draw for the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup will be held at the posh Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port of Spain, Trinidad, today.

German football legend Franz Beckenbauer, who is chairman of the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup, arrived in the Caribbean nation where he will participate in the Local Organising Committee’s (LOC’s) official draw programme which started with a workshop for liaison officers yesterday morning.

Some 20 liaison officers for the tournament to be held

in the twin-island republic from September 5-25, participated in the joint FIFA/LOC workshop, which was also held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.

The workshop, according to a press release from the LOC, was aimed at sensitising liaison officers about the rules and policies which govern their roles.

Meanwhile, executive chairman of the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup, Austin ‘Jack’ Warner, says plans for today’s draw and the World Cup itself are progressing smoothly.

“We will pull out all the stops for this event, our professionalism, our creativity; our uniqueness

will be on display for the entire world to see,” said the football strongman.

“This country is poised to be the next home of women’s football. Football is a

game which transcends all boundaries; it promotes equity and equality (and) FIFA continues to invest into the development of women’s football throughout the

world (and) we will see

these investments materialise during this tournament in September,” he added.

Today’s draw will determine the fixtures for the group stage of the competition, which will be played at five venues across Trinidad and Tobago — The Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain, the Mannie Ramjohn Stadium in Marabella, the Larry Gomes Stadium in Arima, the Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva and

the Dwight Yorke Stadium

in Tobago.

Ten of the 16 participating teams in the tournament are already known. They are hosts Trinidad and Tobago, Japan, Korea DPR and Korea Republic (Asian zone); Canada and Mexico (North, Central America and Caribbean zone); Brazil, Chile and Venezuela (South American zone) and New Zealand (Oceania zone).

The African zone will not finish their qualifiers before mid-May and the European zone will settle their disputes from June 22-26. Three countries from each continent will advance to complete the final frame of 16.