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The All India Football Federation on Tuesday admitted that the Santosh Trophy had lost some of its relevance and popularity over the years and that it was hence considering whether to continue with the tournament, reports TOI.
“Santosh Trophy is not serving any purpose. From the footballing perspective, I don’t think that Santosh Trophy has much relevance. We have to look into that (whether to continue or not),” AIFF secretary general Kushal Das said.
The huge percentage of budgets being spent by clubs in the country to buy players was also a source of discontent for Das who issued a warning to the clubs that they would not be allowed to play in the next season of the I-League if they don’t fulfil the necessary licensing criteria by the turn of the year.
“Some of the licensing criteria is difficult to implement like having a stadium for each club. But certain things like youth development, proper administration are non negotiable. If clubs fail on that, from next year, the license will not be granted,” he said.
“90 per cent of the club’s budget are spent on players’ salary, that is unacceptable. Because of so much money spent on buying players, virtually, there is no money left for infrastructure development,” said Das while delivering keynote address on the topic ‘AIFF’s Vision for Indian Football’ at the India Football Forum 2013.
He also believes that criticism of the AIFF for all the things wrong with football in India is grossly misplaced.
“Are all the ills of India football due to AIFF? AIFF is the most professional sports body in terms of administration in the country and this includes BCCI also,” he said.
Speaking about some upcoming plans of the AIFF, Das said, “A residential elite academy for Under 16-18 players is in Goa and also one planned in Pune. We will tie up with Football Federation Australia to look into grassroot programme in Maharashtra.”
“We will also be able to publish AIFF’s four-year strategic plan in next month or so,” he added.
Das also mentioned the AIFF’s prerogative towards developing women’s football in India.
“Another key area which wants to pay attention is women’s football. Women’s national team has much better FIFA ranking than that of men’s team,” he said.
As far as India’s bid to host the 2017 Under-17 FIFA World Cup was concerned, he said that the federation was still waiting for word from the government on guarantees and assistance that they have asked for with regards to hosting of the tournament.
“We are still waiting for the government’s guarantee which is necessary for FIFA’s approval. We are hoping to get the government nod before the dateline,” he said.
“Before the bidding of U-17 World Cup, we had a meeting with the FIFA. They came here and inspect the infrastructure and they said U-17 World Cup does not need extensive infrastructure. Government will allocate funds and FIFA will assist us in a strong way.”
South Africa, Uzbekistan and Ireland are bidding for the 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup along with India.
