India may host 2017 FIFA U17 World Cup!

The Executive Committee of the All India Football Federation presided over by Mr. Praful Patel, the President of the All India Football Federation which met at the Udyog Bhawan in New Delhi, took the following important decisions on September 22, 2011.

a. The Committee approved the overall Grassroot and Youth Development Programme which was created in conjunction with FIFA including setting up of the four Regional Academies in Kolkata, Bangalore (Goal Project), Delhi/NCR and Mumbai/Navi Mumbai.

b. The Committee also authorised Mr. Kushal Das, the General Secretary of the AIFF to start negotiations with Rob Baan for the position of the Technical Director.

c. The President also mentioned that India may make a bid for hosting the 2017 U-17 World Cup.

d. AIFF’s Marketing Partners IMG-Ril (who were part of the meeting for a while) made their presentations on the Broadcasting Partners for the forthcoming I-League. A likely announcement on the Telecast Rights will be made by the end of the month. Around 70-75 matches are supposed to be broadcast live as compared to the earlier 50 odd matches.

e. The Committee authorised the Emergency Committee to take a decision on the National Team Coach within the next few days.

f. Meanwhile, the Committee approved the increase in Total Prize Money in I-League from Rs. 1.1 crore to Rs. 1.5 crore. The Commitee also ratified Asian Football Confederation’s recommendations to setup an I-League Committee which will have a representative from each of the 14 Clubs playing the I-League.

g. Besides, the Executive Committee ratified the decision of the Emergency Committee of not relegating AIFF’s Developmental Team Pailan Arrows from the I-League.

h. The Committee also ratified that I-League Players (other than foreign players) cannot play more than 40 domestic club matches.

i. The AIFF also granted an annual sum of Rs. 50 lakh to be distributed between the State Associations to organise Football Developmental activity in their states. The decision for releasing such money would be taken by the newly formed Committee for evaluating funding criteria for the states in line with the Local League and Developmental activities being carried out.

j. The dates and breaks for future tournaments stay as such:

I. The Super Cup will be held at the Ambedkar Stadium between Kingfisher East Bengal and Salgaocar SC on October 18, 2011.
II. The I-League kicks-off at the Salt Lake Stadium on October 22, 2011.
III. The SAFF Cup will be played at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi from December 2 to 12, 2011. The Preparatory Camp for the tournament will be held from November 21-30, 2011.  The I-League won’t be given a break for the SAFF Cup and Clubs will be playing 3 rounds without National Team Players.
IV. The Indian National Team would be travelling to Johannesburg to play an International Friendly against South Africa in the first week of January 2012.

V. The National Camp for the AFC Challenge Cup which is the gateway to the Asian Cup 2015 would be held from February 13-29, 2012. In that case, the I-League would be given a break from February 13 to 23, 2012. The AFC Challenge Cup is slated to be held from March 3 to 22, 2012.

k. The Committee took the decision that in future all International Matches concerning National Teams or Clubs must be under the aegis of AIFF. The Committee also decided that it was important to honour the Contractual Obligations with IMG-Ril whereby no third party agency would be allowed to host such International Matches without the explicit approval of AIFF and IMG-Ril.

l. The Committee also approved the regulations framed for hosting International matches which comes  into effect immediately and which will be circulated to all State Associations.

m. The Executive Committee also authorised the General Secretary to form a separate Committee for AIFF’s Platinum Jubilee Celebrations scheduled next year.

THE-AIFF.COM