Yarza was speaking during the closing press conference at Kolkata’s Salt Lake Stadium, which will play host to the finale.

The 24-team tournament has been staged across six Indian cities and saw the home nation make their first appearance in a major FIFA tournament.

Such has been the success of the tournament, All India Football Federation President Praful Patel said a bid has been lodged for the country to host the 2019 FIFA Under-20 World Cup.

"It’s been a fantastic tournament until now, with an overwhelming response of everybody involved," he said.

"First and foremost, the fans have filled the stadiums in all the matches, showing fair play and respect, cheering on all the teams, and really loving the football they have seen.

"The figures speak for themselves: more than 1.2 million fans attended games at the stadiums.

"By the final matchday, we’re probably going to break the [attendance] record of all the other Under-17 World Cups and we might even break the record for the Under-20 World Cup, which is an amazing achievement.

"It really shows that India is a footballing nation in every sense.

"The hard work put in place during so many years has received a great response from everybody.

"It has been a very proud moment for all of us."

Patel, who is also chairman of the India 2017 Local Organising Committee (LOC), spoke of his delight at the way India has embraced the competition.

"I am extremely delighted, happy and satisfied that our dream project to bring the first-ever World Cup to India, the first-ever FIFA tournament to India, has been an astounding success in terms of organisation, infrastructure, and the conduct of the games," he said.

"It shows that India has arrived on the world football scene and we are able to host the finest tournaments.

"If we can host the FIFA U-17 World Cup, I’m sure India is ready for any of the big games in the future.

"We have invested heavily in our grassroots development projects, and the principal reason why we hosted this edition of the World Cup was to continue to keep our focus on the grassroots development and attract younger kids of all age groups to the game.

"The younger we catch them, the better for the game in the future.

"This tournament especially has been absolutely fantastic in attracting the youngsters to the stadiums.

"We have bid for the FIFA U-20 World Cup to be hosted in 2019.

"I will certainly say that I will use all the goodwill at India’s command to good use for that bid.

"We will continue this onward march of Indian football."

Javier Ceppi, director of the India 2017 LOC, added: "The country knew that there was only one 'first time' and this was the first time that India has hosted a FIFA tournament.

"Hopefully, India will get to host many other FIFA tournaments, but there is only one 'first time', so that was the sense of drive that we all had."

Tomorrow night’s final between England and Spain will be a repeat of the UEFA Under-17 European Championship final, which the latter nation won 4-1 on penalties following a 2-2 draw after 90 minutes.

England’s Rhian Brewster and Joel Latibeaudiere both failed to convert their spot-kicks in the penalty shootout.  

The former is currently the Under-17 World Cup's leading marksman, having scored back-to-back hat-tricks against the United States and Brazil, while captain Latibeaudiere has been a consistent performer at centre-back.

History beckons for either England or Spain, neither of which have previously secured a world title at this level.

"We want to play with purpose, dominate possession, play forward and get the ball back as quick as we can," England coach Steve Cooper said.

"Whoever we play, we can be a match and play better than the opposition. 

"We have to work hard for that."

The final will be preceded by the third-place play-off between Brazil and Mali.

England beat Brazil 3-1 in the semi-finals, while Spain defeated Mali by the same scoreline.