JOIN USAll India Football Federation (AIFF) president Praful Patel on Wednesday signed an agreement with FIFA secretary-general Jerome Valcke to help India realise its potential in the footballing world.
As per the agreement, FIFA will provide technical and strategic support to India, who harbour ambitions of hosting the 2017 under-17 World Cup.
Valcke said hosting the World Cup will be a “perfect milestone” for India. “If there is one country in Asia that FIFA wants to focus on is India. You cannot build a national team for the World Cup without having strong U-17, U-19 and U-22 teams. To play in a World Cup it is important to first have a strong domestic circuit and we want to help develop that in India,” Valcke said. “That proves how serious we are about the 10-year project with India from 2012 to 2022. In between, we have the 2017 World Cup bid and India’s aim to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.”
India's ranking plummeted to 169th place on Wednesday and Valcke suggested they should be playing more FIFA-dated tournaments. “FIFA Rankings are very complicated. To climb the ladder in the rankings you need to play on FIFA dates and with competitive sides. Otherwise your good show won’t reflect,” said the 51-year old Frenchman.
Patel said India’s strong pitch for the development of football should favour them in getting the World Cup bid. He said India will be submitting its World Cup bid documents shortly.
“AIFF made a comprehensive bid document (for the under-17 World Cup) and it is almost complete. We will be making a formal presentation to FIFA in the coming days,“ Patel said. “India’s commitment to various development programmes make it a strong contender. We also have a 10-year master plan called ‘Lakshya’. Our target is also to qualify for the 2022 World Cup.”
Patel also requested FIFA to lay a dozen more astro-turfs in India. “Our request to FIFA is that they provide us with a dozen more artificial turfs. FIFA has provided us with eight of them previously during the ‘Win in India in India’ project.” In reply Valcke said it would be a “pleasure” to support India but added: “The best way to promote India is through hosting the U-17 World Cup as the focus of all the countries will be there.”