GUWAHATI: Football fever in the Northeast was already at a crescendo after All India Football Federation (AIFF) announced that the prestigious 77th Santosh Trophy will kick off in Arunachal Pradesh.
And now, AIFF has stoked the already fiery flames of excitement revealing that the tournament will now bear the illustrious title of FIFA Santosh Trophy.
Making the momentous announcement in New Delhi on Thursday, president of the federation, Kalyan Chaubey, shared, “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.”
The excitement doubled as he further revealed that FIFA President Gianni Infantino is expected to grace the tournament final on March 9 or 10.
But that wasn’t the end of the surprises. Chaubey, further revealed plans to collaborate with legendary former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger to establish football academies in India.
“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,” he told the press.
In addition to these academies, Chaubey, a former goalkeeper himself, also aims to revolutionise goalkeeping in the country by establishing a goalkeepers’ academy to produce top-notch custodians.
Drawing inspiration from his meeting with Germany’s legendary former goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, who recently visited India, Chaubey envisions a bright future for Indian goalkeeping.
The AIFF president’s vision doesn’t stop on the field; he proposed the idea of spreading the game’s reach by hosting some I-League matches in Jharkhand, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh cities.
The Executive Committee readily accepted this suggestion, acknowledging the potential of bringing the beautiful game to new territories.
Amidst the announcements and plans, the Executive Committee also took a moment to congratulate Mizoram’s assistant referee Lalthansangi on her unique achievement of passing the men’s referee fitness test.
