AIFF Media Team

GHAZIABAD: The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Institute of Management Technology (IMT), Ghaziabad, to grow football culture, initiate research, suggest and implement ways to increase football literacy in India, and to strategically work on various aspects of developing the game in the country.

AIFF Secretary General Dr Shaji Prabhakaran met with IMT Director Dr Vishal Talwar to discuss the details of the MoU at the IMT campus in Ghaziabad, on Monday, July 17, 2023.

Speaking about the collaboration with the IMT, AIFF President Mr Kalyan Chaubey said, “Indian Football is heading into new territories, in terms of advancements in areas like research and data analytics. I am very happy to announce that we have collaborated with the IMT to help us push ourselves towards the goals we have set for our long term strategic roadmap, Vision 2047.”

Dr Prabhakaran said, "On behalf of our President Mr Kalyan Chaubey and the AIFF Executive Committee, I would like to express our sincere gratitude to IMT Ghaziabad, the management, Dr Vishal, Dr Kanishka and everyone else for engaging with us and getting into this partnership. I'm sure this will be a win-win situation for us all.

"This collaboration with IMT Ghaziabad is going to be the first of its kind for Indian Football because we will be better equipped in terms of our strategic decision makings as research findings will provide us scientific inputs. In this global competitive market place, we have to use all the capabilities to build our strength to compete and position the beautiful game in India to achieve our goals and objectives of Vision 2047," said Dr Prabhakaran.

"IMT Ghaziabad is trying to have a holistic outlook in terms of integrating sports in every aspect of giving an experience to the students as well as the community. I think the model sports village project promoted by IMT is a very good one. I hope IMT Ghaziabad will become an example in India on how this collaboration will create a win-win situation for football and community. That way, Blue Cubs, our flagship grassroots programme, which was launched a few weeks back, could perfectly fit into the model sports village as football can give a different kind of experience to young children."

Dr Talwar said, "Thank you to the entire team, and Dr Shaji, for coming here today. This particular partnership with IMT Ghaziabad is close to my heart, for various reasons. When Dr Pandey came along to me to talk about the AIFF, I straightaway jumped to the idea. We can contribute to the development of sport in the country through strategisation, implementation, research, understanding, analysis and technological contribution. For a long period of time, management institutions kept their focus very narrow. We have a lot of talent, good students, faculty, alumni base, which we should use for the development of sport in the country. There's a lot of natural synergy, and having spoken to Dr Prabhakaran today, I've realised that there's a lot we can do together.

“This is one major initiative we can move forward with under Dr Kanishka Pandey's sports research centre and committee. Everyone who is working with the entire team looks forward to ensuring that our mutual objectives are met,” he said.

As per the MoU, the IMT shall undertake research and studies that will help the AIFF strategically take football further forward in India. The AIFF, for its part, will aid the IMT on the successful implementation of the sporting plans.