The Santosh Trophy will now be called as FIFA Santosh Trophy and Gianni Infantino will attend its final.
On Thursday, the Executive Committee of the All India Football Federation convened at the Football House in New Delhi.
President Kalyan Chaubey chaired the meeting, which was attended by Vice President NA Haris, Treasurer Kipa Ajay, Acting Secretary General M Satyanarayan, along with other committee members. Mulrajsinh Chudasama, Caitano Fernandes, and FSDL representatives attended as special invitees.
The President briefed the Executive Committee on his extensive negotiations with FIFA regarding the Santosh Trophy and other projects.
He stated that the Santosh Trophy National Football Championship, which will be held in Arunachal Pradesh this season, will be called the FIFA Santosh Trophy.
“I am happy to announce that after having discussions with FIFA, the Santosh Trophy will now be known as the FIFA Santosh Trophy. This entails that a team of FIFA officials will come to have a meeting with Arunachal Pradesh officials on the conduct of the tournament,” explained Chaubey.
“We also expect the FIFA President (Gianni Infantino) to be present for the final on March 9 or 10,” he said.
Mr. Arsene Wenger, FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development and famous coach, is scheduled to visit India later this month, and the AIFF President stated that his presence will usher in a new chapter in India’s young development plans and programs.
“We will hold detailed discussions with Wenger on plans to establish the proposed FIFA-AIFF academy. Our plan is not to have one, but five academies, one across each zone in India. India being a big country, I personally feel, one academy will not be enough, since it could throw up only 25-30 players in one batch. So, we have taken up this ambitious project of five academies.”
Chaubey has stated that he intends to construct a goalkeepers’ academy to produce quality goalkeepers. The AIFF President, himself a former India goalkeeper, informed members that he met with Germany’s iconic former goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, who was recently in India on a personal visit.
The Executive Committee agreed to Chaubey’s recommendation that some I-League matches be played in Jharkhand, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh cities in order to grow the game far and wide.
The Executive Committee commended Mizoram’s assistant referee Lalthansangi for passing the men’s referee fitness test, a once-in-a-lifetime achievement.
The Committee expressed optimism that, in addition to her duties in women’s football matches, Lalthansangi will referee men’s games.
The Executive Committee observed a minute’s silence in memory of former India players Mohamed Habib and Prabhakar Mishra. The Committee approved the decision to terminate Shaji Prabhakaran’s contract as Secretary-General and to appoint M Satyanarayan as Acting Secretary General of the All India Football Federation.
