Futsal has potential to be game-changer in India, says AIFF general secretary Kushal Das

New Delhi: All India Football Federation (AIFF) general secretary Kushal Das feels the Futsal Club Championship has tremendous potential to be a game-changer in the country. The championship came to an end on Saturday at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi with Delhi FC being crowned the first champions. After the completion of the event, Das hailed the efforts of all parties involved to make the championship a success. “I think Futsal has got tremendous potential in the country. I think this tournament will be a game-changer for futsal in India,” Das was quoted as saying in the federation’s website. He spoke about the development and the aims of AIFF as far as futsal is concerned. “Futsal is what we want to do going forward, we wanted to do it a couple of years ago as well but had to delay the plans due to the pandemic. For the next edition of the tournament, I hope we will have spectators in the stadium.” The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) praised the AIFF for the “fantastic job”. Jacob Joseph Biggs, senior development officer futsal and beach Soccer, AFC, was also present to grace the grand finale played between Mohammedan SC and Delhi FC. “It was a fantastic match between the two finalists, Mohammedan SC and Delhi FC. The AIFF have done a fantastic job in organising the inaugural edition of the tournament. “I would like to thank the federation for organising this event in such fashion. We will continue to support the federation in their future endeavours as well.” Savio Medeira, technical director and head of coach education at AIFF, heaped praise on the state associations and the federation as well. “The tournament started in a good manner, and I want to thank all the state associations who took extra efforts to conduct the futsal leagues. “The competition between the teams was very good, and from here we don’t look back. We will look forward to more success and to grow Futsal all over the country,” said Madeira. Sunando Dhar, Leagues CEO said, “Now that we stand here on the final day, I feel really happy. We are happy to see a tournament where 16 teams participated, and the best part of this was 12 teams coming from on the back of winning their state championships. “Ultimately, we would love to see Indian teams participating at the Asian level, both the national team as well as the club teams.”