The President of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) Praful Patel chaired AIFF’s Executive Committee Meeting in Mumbai on Thursday.

Besides, AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das, Senior Vice-President Subrata Dutta, Treasurer Hardev Jadeja, Vice-Presidents KMI Mather, Larsing Ming and all other Members except Vice-Presidents Shrinivas V. Dempo and Subhash Chopra; Sara Pilot and Commodore Pushpendra Kumar Garg, attended the Meeting.

The Executive Committee welcomed the Kalyani Group as the new member in the forthcoming edition of the I-League and wished them success. “I believe they will bring in more professionalism in the league. Let’s not forget the manner Bengaluru FC came as a breath of fresh air in the I-League last season. The value of the I-League can be gauged from the interest it has generated among top corporates of India, that too for two years in succession,” Patel said.

The Committee endorsed Patel’s decision and discussed at length India’s preparations for the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup. It was agreed the coach of the Indian national team for the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup will be signing a contract soon for him to have a look and scout probable Indian players for the World Cup from the final phase of the Coca-Cola Cup which is to be held in November-December 2014.

The venue/dates for various upcoming Domestic Tournaments which were finalised in the Executive Committee Meeting stay as follows:
1. Federation Cup to be held in Goa from December 28, 2014 to January 10, 2015
2. Senior Women’s National Championship to be held in Orissa
3. Final Round of the Santosh Trophy to be held in Uttarakhand

Furthermore, as proposed by AR Khaleel, the Committee decided to name the Winners Trophy of the proposed U-15 League as Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy.

Meanwhile, the Executive Committee confirmed the minutes of the last AIFF Executive Committee Meeting which was held on May 14, 2014 at Football House.

(Report & Picture courtesy AIFF Media)