FIFA president to attend Santosh Trophy final, Kalyan Chaubey informs AIFF EC meeting

NEW DELHI — The All-India Football Federation (AIFF) president Kalyan Chaubey on Thursday said FIFA chief Gianni Infantino is likely to attend the Santosh Trophy final on March 9 or 10, 2024. Chaubey made this announcement at the AIFF executive Committee meeting, held at the Football House here.

Chaubey chaired the meeting, which was attended by Vice President NA Haris, Treasurer Kipa Ajay, Acting Secretary General M Satyanarayan, along with members Valanka Alemao, Menla Ethenpa, Avijit Paul, Syed Husnain Ali Naqvi, Mohan Lal, GP Palguna, Arif Ali, Syed Imtiaz Hussain, Deepak Sharma, Vijay Bali, K Neibou Sekhose, Anilkumar P, Tababi Devi, Pinky Bompal Magar, Shabbir Ali, IM Vijayan. Mulrajsinh Chudasama, Caitano Fernandes. Representatives from FSDL were present as special invitees.

The President informed the Executive Committee of his detailed discussions with FIFA on the Santosh Trophy and several other projects. He said that the National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy, which will be held in Arunachal Pradesh this season, will be known as 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.

FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development and renowned coach Arsene Wenger is set to visit India later this month, and the AIFF President announced that his visit would open up a new chapter in India’s youth development plans and projects.

“We will hold detailed discussions with Mr 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 said that he also has a plan to establish a goalkeepers’ academy to produce quality custodians. Himself a former India goalkeeper, the AIFF President told the members that he had a meeting with Germany’s legendary former goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, who was in India recently on a personal visit.

Chaubey’s suggestion that in order to spread the game far and wide, some of the I-League matches could be played in Jharkhand, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh cities, was accepted by the Executive Committee.

The Executive Committee congratulated Mizoram’s assistant referee Lalthansangi on the unique achievement of passing the men’s referee’s fitness test. The Committee expressed hope that Lalthansangi, apart from her duties in women’s football matches, will also officiate in men’s games.

The Executive Committee condoled the death of former India players Mohamed Habib and Prabhakar Mishra and observed a minutes’ silence. The Committee ratified the decision to terminate the contract of Shaji Prabhakaran as the Secretary-General and appoint M. Satyanarayan as the Acting Secretary General of the All India Football Federation.

Also read: I-League 2023-24: Mohammedan come from behind to earn a point