NEW DELHI: The executive committee of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) met at Football House to “decide on several issues of the federation”.
The only decision of note, however, was that the Santosh Trophy (men’s senior national football championship) has been renamed as the FIFA Santosh Trophy. Reason? FIFA president Gianni Infantino is expected to attend the final of the tournament, which will be held in Arunachal Pradesh this season.
“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,” Chaubey said.
“We also expect the FIFA president (Mr Gianni Infantino) to be present for the final on March 9 or 10.”
Aside from the renaming, a concrete decision the committee made was to have some matches of the ongoing I-League played in Jharkhand, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh.
Chaubey added that as a former India goalkeeper, he also has a plan to establish a goalkeepers’ academy to “produce quality custodians”. Details about said plan are yet to be announced.
