Football
'Santosh Trophy will now be known as FIFA Santosh Trophy': Kalyan Chaubey
This season, the FIFA Santosh Trophy will be held in Arunachal Pradesh. Chaubey also said that the FIFA officials will descend to Arunachal Pradesh to meet the state officials.
AIFF Executive Committee meeting has been held in New Delhi on Thursday.
The Santosh Trophy has been renamed as the FIFA Santosh Trophy on Thursday following All India Football Federation’s Executive Committee meeting in New Delhi.
The federation president Kalyan Chaubey apprised the Executive Committee of his detailed discussions with FIFA on the Santosh Trophy, the National Football Championship of India. However, the reason for renaming the championship has not been explained.
This season, the FIFA Santosh Trophy will be held in Arunachal Pradesh. Chaubey also said that the FIFA officials will descend to Arunachal Pradesh to meet the state officials.
“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 added.
Wenger to visit India
FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development and renowned coach Arsene Wenger is set to visit India later this month, and Chaubey announced that his visit would open up a new chapter in India’s youth development plans and projects.
“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," said Chaubey.
Chaubey also 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.
Meanwhile, the AIFF Executive Committee approved Chaubey's proposal to conduct a few I-league in Jharkhand, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh cities.
The EC also officially ratified the decision to terminate the contract of Shaji Prabhakaran as the Secretary General of AIFF. M Satyanarayan has been appointed the Acting Secretary General of the AIFF.
