AIFF President, Secretary-General meet FIFA President in Doha

New Delhi, Sep 9 (IANS) The All India Football Federation (AIFF) President Kalyan Chaubey and Secretary-General Dr. Shaji Prabhakaran met FIFA President Gianni Infantino at the FIFA Office in Doha, Qatar on Friday to discuss the roadmap for the development of Indian football.

Kalyan Chaubey was last month elected as AIFF President and later nominated Prabhakaran as secretary-general. This was their first courtesy visit to the FIFA office and thus called on the FIFA President.

They had an encouraging and constructive meeting with the FIFA President on the future development of Indian Football, the AIFF informed on Friday.

Discussions were held on key aspects of the development of Indian Football, and areas that require priority focus.

Infantino confirmed he will visit India in the near future. All the possible high-impact projects and programmes concerning Indian Football will be finalised before the FIFA President visits India, the release informed.

The senior AIFF officials’ meeting with the FIFA President gives them a big boost. India was last month suspended from all football activities because of alleged third-party interference in the governance of the game in the country.

On August 27, the Bureau of the FIFA Council decided to lift the suspension that was imposed on the All India Football Federation (AIFF).

The decision was taken after FIFA received confirmation that the mandate of the committee of administrators that was set up to assume the powers of the AIFF Executive Committee had been terminated and that the AIFF administration had regained full control of the AIFF’s daily affairs. FIFA and the AFC will continue to monitor the situation and will support the AIFF in organising its elections in a timely manner.

With the suspension lifted, the hosting rights of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2022, scheduled to take place between October 11-30,2022, too were restored to the country.

–IANS
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