Mr. Praful Patel, President, All India Football Federation chaired AIFF’s Annual General Body Meeting which was held in Mumbai on Saturday (February 5, 2022).

Senior Vice-President Mr. Subrata Dutta, vice-presidents Mr. Manvendra Singh, along with members from 25 State Associations, and two associate members – RSPB, and SSCB attended the meeting physically, as did AIFF Treasurer Mr. ZA Thakur, along with representatives from FSDL and other AIFF stakeholders.

The AIFF General Secretary Mr. Kushal Das joined the meeting virtually, along with vice-presidents KMI Mather, Mr. Subhash Chopra and Larsing Sawyan – all of whom attended the meeting online, along with members from 7 other State FAs, FIFA Development Officer Mr. Prince Rufus, and observers from the Asian Football Confederation.

“I feel very sad and heartbroken that the Blue Tigresses could not take the field in their second match of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup India 2022 as they did not have even 11 players to take the field. It’s extremely unfortunate,” Mr. Patel stated.

“We have already expressed our interest to host India’s group league matches for the final qualifying round of the AFC Asian Cup China 2023 in June 2022, and we await a decision from AFC,” the President informed. “Furthermore, to compensate for the women’s team losing out a chance to showcase their skills in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup, we are working to get an entry for them in an elite UEFA tournament.”

The President also stated that the AIFF will be sanctioning a financial grant to the State Associations soon. “Under exceptional circumstances, we did offer a Covid solidarity fund last year, and we will be working on our budget to stand with the State Associations again this year,” he maintained.

But at the same time, the President cited examples of support from Governments of West Bengal, Maharashtra, Odisha, Jharkhand, Kerala in a joint endeavour to take Indian Football forward together. “I urge all State Associations to impress their State Governments and work closely with them. Football is a global sport, and we are indebted to the support coming from certain State Governments,” Mr. Patel expressed.

“The National Centre of Excellence in Kolkata will be a professional house where we can house our National Teams under one roof, and train,” Mr. Patel informed. “The Football Maharashtra Centre of Excellence CIDCO in Kharghar, Navi Mumbai is being developed by the Government of Maharashtra, and is on the same lines of the AIFF Centre of Excellence in Kolkata.”

The House also observed one minute’s silence as a mark of respect to legends of Football who passed away both in India, and at the global level.

(AIFF Media)