Picture courtesy: AIFF Media

The President of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) Praful Patel chaired the AIFF Executive Committee Meeting at AIFF Headquarters, Football House in Dwarka, New Delhi on Thursday (April 23, 2015).

Besides, AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das, Vice Presidents Subrata Dutta, Larsing Ming, Shrinivas Dempo and Subhash Chopra, Treasurer ZA Thakur, and all other members except KMI Mather (Vice President) attended the Meeting.

Besides, Indian National Team Coach Stephen Constantine, India U-17 2017 FIFA World Cup Head Coach Nicolai Adam and Technical Director Scott O’Donnell were also present as were Javier Ceppi, Tournament Director, 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup and Joy Bhattacharyja, Project Director, 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

Referring to State Associations’ criteria for Technical Support, Patel announced that AIFF, in an effort to further promote the sport in various States, would be appointing CEOs in five State Associations at AIFF’s cost. Further as per the AIFF Strategic Plan the AIFF with the support from FIFA will also improve the capacities of the State Associations hosting the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup by appointing Technical Directors.

“We will appoint the CEOs who will be on deputation for the next two years,” he said. The decision came close on the heels of AIFF’s tie-up with German Football Association (DFB) seeking technical support for further development of the sport. AIFF’s roadmap ‘Laskhya’ has also advocated for the State Associations appointing their CEOs in their Association.

The 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup was discussed in much detail and Javier Ceppi enlightened all with a presentation over the same. For the record, FIFA has appointed India as one of the countries for the Pitch Improvement Programme for 2015-16.

A detailed presentation on Marketing and Promotional activities of the Indian National Team in association with Nike and IMG-R was also done by Joy Bhattacharyja while Javier Ceppi made another regarding the status of the preparation for the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

Besides, Sunando Dhar and Indu Chowdhury also made different presentations on “State Associations and Criteria for Technical Support” and “Women’s Football with special emphasis on FIFA ‘Live Your Goals'” respectively.

Furthermore, Ankur Dutta dished out plans for the Assam State Premier League in his presentation.

In addition, future editions of the 2nd Division League will be a ‘Zonal Competition’ with Champions and Runners-up from the respective State Leagues playing the final phase. A detailed format will be provided by the I-League Department in due course.

Meanwhile, after detailed discussions the Committee unanimously decided to change the format of the Federation Cup to strengthen the 2nd Division League. All the members unanimously felt that for the next 2-3 years the Federation Cup should be kept on hold and instead the 2nd Division League and the U-19 I-League should be broad based to include more teams and games.

Furthermore, it was clarified that the format of the I-League and the 2nd Division in terms of promotion and relegation would stay the same.

Inclusion of five U-21 players in the Santosh Trophy was made mandatory.

(Report & Picture courtesy AIFF Media)