FIFA president Gianni Infantino to attend Santosh Trophy final in India

FIFA president Gianni Infantino is set to visit India in March next year to attend the Santosh Trophy final, it was announced by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) during the Executive Committee meeting at the Football House in New Delhi, on Thursday. It was also announced that Santosh Trophy, which will be held in Arunachal Pradesh this season, will be known as the FIFA Santosh Trophy. “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,” AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey said. “We also expect the FIFA President (Mr Gianni Infantino) to be present for the final on March 9 or 10,” he said. FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development and renowned coach Arsene Wenger is set to visit India later this month, and the AIFF President announced that his visit would open up a new chapter in India’s youth development plans and projects. “We will hold detailed discussions with Mr. 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.” Chaubey 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. Chaubey’s suggestion that in order to spread the game far and wide, some of the I-League matches could be played in Jharkhand, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh cities, was accepted by the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee condoled the death of former India players Mohamed Habib and Prabhakar Mishra, and observed a minutes’ silence. The Committee ratified the decision to terminate the contract of Shaji Prabhakaran as the Secretary General, and appoint M Satyanarayan as the Acting Secretary General of the All India Football Federation.