Praful Patel: Indian football in take-off mode

Thursday, 26. November 2009 - IndianFootball.Com reporter

Indian football is set to take off under the dynamic leadership of the new All India Football Federation (AIFF) President Praful Patel.

Well known for his role in professionalising and liberalising the Indian aviation industry, Patel, who is also the Civil Aviation Minister, has set his sights on taking football to new heights.

As Acting President, Patel won kudos earlier this year for securing a grant of US$5 million for Indian team’s preparations for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup from none other than rival and country’s number one sport – cricket, apart from getting US$2 million from the Indian government.

"The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the governing body of Indian cricket, has also committed to help us financially in the future as well," Patel told www.the-afc.com after meeting AFC President Mohamed Bin Hammam at the AFC headquarters here.

"They will see how we utilise this money and will surely help us in the future."

"Apart from the preparation of teams for 2011 AFC Asian Cup in Doha and Asian Games in Guangzhou, we need to earmark this money for grassroots development," added the 52-year-old.

"We want our national team to do well in Doha because the interest in the game will develop only when the national team does well."

"My vision is to make football India's No. 1 sport by 2020," said Patel.

"To achieve this target, we have to make some structural changes in our system, including leagues in all the states and organising better tournaments. We will do this in a phased manner."

"Infrastructure is the biggest challenge for us but we plan to overcome this in the next three years," he added.

Regarding a possible club-versus-country row following Indian coach Bob Houghton's plan of keeping the players together before the 2011 AFC Asian Cup, Patel said: “Houghton is right in saying the interest of national team should come first.

"We will compensate the players and see to it that they don’t suffer financially by playing for the country. The future of Indian football depends on the results of the national team."


(AFC press release)