New Delhi: “The main focus of bringing this World Cup is to ensure that all young boys, as well as, young girls of India, become involved with this game!
“We are looking at 2017 as a motivational and an inspirational moment for reviving football and bringing it closer to the hearts of all the youngsters in India.”
A sense of satisfaction and newly-instilled confidence grasped everyone, when the AIFF President Mr. Praful Patel said the aforesaid in a packed media conference at a hotel in the city on Monday. It was not only a moment of joy, but more importantly, the beginning of a new road. The journey is cut out!
From the president’s own words, “I-League is the premier competition of the country”, and the top tier Club football competition of the nation has its work cut out to make India shine in the FIFA U-17 World Cup, 2017 – where we are the hosts!
“We are expecting a lot from the Airtel I-League Clubs.
“As you know, the licensing of clubs has been one of the major issues, and it’s only for this that we have extended the period of granting the license for so many years, so that they are given the space to get into the format that are expected of them from the AFC and the FIFA,” he said.
During an interview with www.i-league.org earlier, former India skipper Baichung Bhutia spoke of the same that getting the licensing done will benefit Indian football as a whole, as it will only help in setting up Academies, getting the proper infrastructure, and so on.
As of now, Pune FC are the only Club who have met all the criteria of licensing.
“We have seen that our Clubs are not being granted permission to participate in international competitions only because of the licensing criteria, and it is something which is important,” Mr. Patel continued.
“We at the AIFF cannot ignore the FIFA guideline that Clubs cannot be amateur, but they have to be professionally competitive. For that reason, we are ensuring that the licensing criteria are very stringently met.”
The AIFF chief also promised that the trend of Indian Clubs participating in the international Club competitions, like the AFC and the FIFA, will also continue, and it is a promising sign.
Kingfisher East Bengal went forward until the semi-finals of the AFC Cup this year, and it was also announced that Pune FC have bagged a Play-off spot for the AFC Champions League 2014.
The AIFF chief also revealed that he will be travelling in January 2014 to the FIFA headquarters, and will push ahead the bid of landing the FIFA Club World Cup 2015/16 in India.
Not only that, he also believes there is a “good chance” of bagging the club version of the World Cup.
If that happens, the I-League Champion of the 2014/15 edition gets a direct entry into the knockout stage of FIFA’s premier Club competition.
However, before that, Mr. Patel affirms that the I-League teams must get their act together and upgrade their game, so that they reasonably compete in the Club World Cup.