Korea mad for World Cup

Football fever is once again sweeping through South Korea after FIFA’s announcement that over 600,000 tickets have already been sold for the U17 World Cup.

The country proved to be colourful co-hosts of the senior World Cup in 2002 and England’s young Three Lions can look forward to a near sell out crowd when they open up their U17 campaign against North Korea in Seogwipo on 18 August.

England return to Seogwipo on 21 August for the clash with New Zealand before coming face to face with Brazil’s new crop of talent in Goyang City on 24 August.

Household names such as Ronaldinho and Cesc Fabregas have featured in previous U17 World Cups while this year’s competition will also be broadcast to more than 200 countries worldwide with the final taking place in South Korea’s capital, Seoul, on 9 September.

England qualified for the tournament after finishing as runners up to Spain at the European Championships last May and Head Coach, John Peacock, is confident that his young charges can make an impression on the world stage

He said: “I like to think that we’ll be up there with the top sides and it’s going to be a great experience for our lads to play in South Korea against the best up and coming players from around the world.

“We’re looking forward to the competition but realise that we’re in a tough group and we’ll need to put in some good performances to reach the latter stages.”

Local organisers are hoping to beat China’s record total attendance of 735,000 for the competition which was set on its debut as an U16 tournament in 1985.

England's matches will be broadcast live on Eurosport.