AIFF Media Team

KOLKATA: The Executive Committee of the All India Football Federation, chaired by AIFF President Mr. Kalyan Chaubey, was held at the National Centre of Excellence in Kolkata on Thursday, June 6, 2024.

The meeting was attended by Treasurer Mr. Kipa Ajay, Mr. Menla Ethenpa, Ms. Valanka Alemao, Ms Thongam Tababi Devi, Mr. GP Palguna, Mr. Vijay Bali, Mr. Syed Husnain Ali Naqvi, Mr. K Neibou Sekhose, Mr. Avijit Paul, Mr. Anilkumar P, Mr. Mohan Lal, Mr. Syed Imtiaz Husain, Mr. Arif Ali, Mr. IM Vijayan, Mr. Shabbir Ali, Mr. Climax Lawrence and the AIFF Acting Secretary General M. Satyanarayan. 

In his opening remarks, the AIFF President said: “This is for the first time, we are hosting the Executive Committee meeting in the National Centre of Excellence. This facility holds huge importance in Indian football. The Senior Indian National Team, which will play against Kuwait today, trained here for the last week. We expect more national teams to use this facility in the future.”

Mr. Chaubey commended the Chhattisgarh Football Association on the successful conduct of the Swami Vivekananda U20 National Football Championship, the inaugural edition of which was held in Narainpur, earlier this year.

While thanking the Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama in Narainpur for hosting the U20 tournament, the President pointed out that 572 players took part in the U20 Championship, which lasted for 40 days. He said, “In the last one season, the AIFF organised 18 championships in Senior and different age groups. All of them went off successfully. We are now in the process of preparing data on players across all age groups in both men’s and women’s football who played in these tournaments.  

“We have been making strides at the youth level. Our mission is to not let any player go unnoticed,” he said.

Mr. Chaubey complimented the Kerala Football Association for their elaborate plan to host the Super League Kerala in September and the Gujarat Football Association for the successful conduct of professional Super League. He said that the Sikkim Football Association did a fine job of holding two coaching programme and one referees’ clinic. The President congratulated the Punjab Football Association for organising multiple tournaments of the AIFF.

The Executive Committee deliberated on the relegation of two Imphal Clubs, TRAU FC and NEROCA FC, who requested the AIFF to consider their plea in light of the prevailing situation in Manipur, which has affected performances of the both clubs. Considering the fact that it was an unusual situation in the state, the Committee felt a final decision should only be taken after carefully weighing all options.

The Committee discussed the proposal to set up a goalkeepers’ academy for producing quality custodians in good numbers, who could be assets for all future national teams. Former India goalkeeper Subrata Paul has been requested to be associated with the project.

The Executive Committee condoled the demise of Anil Kamat, Assistant General Secretary and Director of Competitions of the All India Football Federation and observed a minute's silence in his memory.