AIFF Grassroots Committee launches Blue Cubs League

The All Indian Football Federation announced the launch of the Blue Cubs League as the flagship grassroots program on Tuesday.

The decision was taken in the meeting of the AIFF’s Grassroots Committee meeting held over video conferencing on Tuesday chaired by Mulrajsinh Chudasama.

In attendance were AIFF Vice President NA Haris, AIFF Secretary General Shaji Prabhakaran, Deputy Secretary General Satyanarayan M, Treasurer Kipa Ajay, and committee members, including the newly-appointed Deputy Chairperson, Kotagiri Sridhar, Shukla Dutta, Ratan Kumar Singh, Sandeep Desai, Kiyeka A Sumi, Hmingthansanga, Aleixo Francisco da Costa, John Neelam, and Deepak Sharma.

After the meeting, Shaji Prabhakaran said: “Today’s AIFF grassroots committee meeting was a path-breaking one. We took several decisions to boost the grassroots landscape in India further. Today we have officially launched the Blue Cubs League."

“Blue Cubs is our flagship grassroots program. The committee decided that all the member associations must have a grassroots committee where they actively promote the development of grassroots football as per the policy and guidance of the Blue Cubs program. It has also been recommended to each state association that every district organize at least one Blue Cubs League," Prabhakaran said.

"This way, we can give more children opportunities to play the sport. The Blue Cubs app will be launched in a few days so that everyone can be registered. To recognize, encourage, motivate, and inspire more participation, we would also like to award the NGOs who are doing exceptional work at the grassroots level," he added.

Chairperson Mulrajsinh said, “I want to thank all the members who have been working extremely hard for our grassroots activities. Today, as we launch the Blue Cubs League, I think it is the day when all the clubs and the state associations are waiting for this launch to happen. We have to make sure we spread awareness of the program through various channels and make it successful.

“We have been nominated for the AFC Grassroots Awardee 2023 in the Bronze category this year, and I believe this is just the beginning. We need to upgrade ourselves from bronze to silver in Indian Football,” the Grassroots Committee chairperson said.

The Grassroots Committee also endorsed the participation of more women leaders at the grassroots level to see more women actively promoting development and taking the initiative to encourage more girls to be part of grassroots football.