If PNGFA fails to respond to FIFA’s demands, it could forfeit hosting the tournament scheduled for next October. FIFA issued the warning after a visit last month.
The main area of concern is that FIFA considers local facilities inadequate and not up to their standards.
Association president David Chung over the weekend expressed concern that the country was in real danger of losing the hosting rights if it did not submit detailed plans of the venues to be used.
He said there would not be an extension to the deadline and urged the local organising committee — including the venue developers — to have the documentation ready for FIFA on the set date.
Chung said PNGFA was required to provide the complete architectural designs for all the stadiums that FIFA will use to host the tournament.
The four stadiums to be used during the tournament are in Port Moresby and Lae — the Sir Hubert Murray Stadium (SHMS), Sir John Guise Stadium (SJGS) and the National Football Stadium (NFS) and the Sir Ignatius Kilage Stadium (SIKS) in Lae.
Plans for the Sir Hubert Murray Stadium have yet to be acquired by PNGFA.
The developer Curtain Brothers, who has the complete structural designs, is yet to release the documentation despite signing an agreement with the PNGFA earlier this year.
The plans for the Sir John Guise Stadium and the National Football Stadium have been submitted to the PNGFA.
Plans for the Sir Ignatius Kilage Stadium are believed to be unavailable as the venue was constructed in 1990 and hard copy plans would be with the developer.
The Government, through the PNG Sports Foundation, has direct control over the Sir John Guise and the Sir Ignatius Kilage stadiums while the Sir Hubert Murray and National Football Stadium are privately-built stadiums.
Chung said the hosting U-20 Women’s World Cup was an important undertaking by the association and the State and its success or failure would reflect directly on them.
“We’ve have worked hard to bring this high level competition to this part of the world, and if we lose it, we (PNG) may not have another again,” he said.
“It may be another 15 or 20 years before we are considered again,”
He called on all stadium owners, Curtain Brothers (SHMS) and Oil Search (NFS), to work with the PNGFA to meet the deadline.
“We must have designs and plans for all three stadiums, the security plans, medical plans and more importantly the infrastructure (training fields and the main stadium for matches) by 15 October.”
Chung said the Government had earmarked K10million for staging the event and a further K2 million for the preparation for the national team.
Chung, who is the president of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC), has involved OFC executives Tai Nicholas and the New Zealand-based FIFA representative Glen Turner to help in preparing the submission to FIFA.
He thanked the Government for its commitment and guarantee and asked all stakeholders to double up on their efforts to ensure the country hosted the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup.
He admitted that FIFA had a number of concerns, but with Government support, he was confident the World Cup would be hosted in PNG as planned.
Story by Henry Morabang.