The biggest sports event in a decade to be held in the UAE begins in 226 days. That would be the Fifa Under 17 World Cup, comprising teams from 24 nations playing 52 games in six cities over 23 days of competition, beginning on October 17.

Some big events come through here, but the scale of this — and the 2003 Fifa Youth World Championship, which also involved 24 teams — eclipses any of those golf or tennis or racing events in terms of duration and logistics.

Also, it can be a lot of fun.

At the U17 World Cup, you can be certain to see some future stars for club and country. In the past decade, players like Andres Iniesta, Fernando Torres, Carlos Tevez, David Silva, Mario Goetz and Toni Kroos have competed in a U17 World Cup. And in 1999, Landon Donovan played for the U.S. team that finished fourth in New Zealand.

The countdown began today with the unveiling of the logo/emblem at Emirates Palace, here in Abu Dhabi.

The logo is a little difficult to see, the way it was posed, but it incorporates an oyster shell and pearl in the national colors (red, white, green, black) of the UAE. Before oil, the biggest industry in what is now the United Arab Emirates was pearling.

The event has global status, and it can leave behind valuable experience among those who will be working on it, and the logistics and planning involved.

The UAE, the FA president said, hopes it can also be a learning experience for the country’s best U17 players. The current national team is made up mostly of an age-group side of players who were born in 1989 and 1990 and 1991, but age-group teams since them have not done particularly well. For instance, the UAE hosted the Gulf Cup U17 tournament late last year, and the hosts did not get out of the group stage.

To that end, the U17s will be far more active than normal, over the next six months, our Amith Passela reported.

I did a short comment piece about the wonderful mystery that the U17 tournament represents. You are, in fact, looking at some superstars … but they are not necessarily those who are most impressive, at the U17 tournament. Except when they are.

(Consider: In 2001, Florent Sinama Pongolle scored nine goals in seven matches for champions France, and then he never quite made the step to “successful senior player” — though Liverpool gave him five years to figure it out. Meanwhile, when Argentina played Spain in a group match, in 2001, Tevez, Mascherano and Pablo Zabaleta faced off against Iniesta, Torres and Pepe.)

Weather might be a bit of a factor. Summer can linger into November here, but it won’t be as tricky a proposition as it will be for Qatar, nine years hence, when the UAE’s Gulf neighbor puts on the 2022 World Cup in, apparently, the height of summer.

Matches will be played in five of the seven Emirates, with two stadiums in Abu Dhabi — in the capital and in Al Ain, which will be rolling out its new, 25,000-seat stadium.

The U17 World Cup: We are looking forward to it.