NEW DELHI: With the Indian football season not scheduled to begin until late October, the AIFF is focusing solely on the return of the women’s U-17 team and the boys U-16 team to the training camp in Goa.
The women’s team, coached by Swede Thomas Dennerby, is preparing for its greatest challenge so far. The side will make its World Cup debut when India hosts the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup between February 17 and March 7 next year.
Even though the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has stated that sports stadiums in the country can be opened without spectators, the AIFF is still waiting for some clarity regarding the resumption of normal training. And when it does get the green signal, the apex body will focus on the junior teams as a top priority.
“The junior teams are the focus, but we are still waiting for exact the guidelines. There is also the question of travel of the players (from various parts of the country) and that of the arrival of the coach from Sweden. These are a few issues we have and we will take it as it comes,” AIFF general secretary Kushal Das told Sportstar.
“Everything is still very uncertain owing to travel restrictions and it depends on the further guidelines the government will give for sporting events,” added Das.
While the Women’s U17 team has already earned a ticket to the World Cup next year by virtue of being the hosts, the boy’s squad will be aiming to finish at the top four of the 2020 AFC U-16 Championship to qualify for the 2021 FUFA U-17 Men’s World Cup in Peru, Chile.
Futsal Championship to kick off season
The AIFF has decided to host a Futsal Championship as a curtain-raiser ahead of the next season of Indian football.
“We want to kick off the next season with a Futsal League in Meghalaya. We are requesting the states that have a Futsal league to conduct it so that the winner can play here and have also asked Indian Super League, I-League teams, and second division teams to come up,” Das told Sportstar.
The tournament will be the latest addition to the Indian football calendar. “We’ll have to start off and hopefully it should become more structured in terms of all states organising the league and their winners playing in the Futsal Championship,” he said.
