newsletter Tough Draw for India MAY 31, 2016 AFC GR day celebrated Page 2 Bagan lift Fed Cup Page 4 Page 1

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1 newsletter MAY 31, 2016 AFC GR day celebrated Page 2 Bagan lift Fed Cup Page 4 Tough Draw for India Page 1

2 INDIA DRAWN WITH ASIAN POWERHOUSES From the GS Desk The draw for the AFC U-16 Championship India 2016 was held in Goa and it turned out to be a very tough draw for India. Iran, UAE and Saudi Arabia are powerhouses in Asian Football. Wish the Team all the best for September 2016 and look forward for them to put up a good display. The U-17 World Cup Team did have a good experience against stronger Teams in the AIFF Youth Cup. It will make them stronger and better. We also organised a two-day Workshop to review the progress made by the State Associations under the State Development plan in Goa. As you remember that the State Development plan was launched in line with AIFF s Strategic Plan with the aim of strengthening State FAs. The month also marked the AFC Grassroots Festival Day which was celebrated all over India with much enthusiasm. It was in 2013 that All India Football Federation were nominated among the top-three AFC Grassroots MA of the Year and were conferred the AFC President s Recognition Award for Grassroots Development in I also need to congratulate Mohun Bagan for winning the Hero Federation Cup. They were simply unstoppable in the Tournament and scored almost at will. Deserving winners no doubt, Congratulations! Congratulations also to Dempo SC for winning the 2ndDivision League and earning the ticket to play in next edition of the Hero I-League. Warm regards, Kushal Das The official draw for the AFC U-16 Championship India 2016 which will be held in Goa from September 15 October 2, 2016 was held in a glittering ceremony at Taj by Vivanta, Panjim, Goa on May 26. Conducted by Shin Mangil, the Director of Competitions, Asian Football Confederation, the ceremony was also attended by Goa CM - Laxmikant Parsekar, General Secretary of the All India Football Federation Kushal Das and Tournament Director of the LOC - Javier Ceppi amongst others. While the 16 participating teams were divided in to 4 groups as follows, it was also announced that the matches will be held at Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium, Fatorda and Bambolim Stadium. There will also be 6 other training sites which will be used during the course of the tourney. U-17 Team India Head coach Nicolai Adam was pleased with the result of the draw. I like the draw, when you look at the groups it s pretty even. We see this as a stepping stone to the World Cup; so the more difficult the opposition the better. We still have a long way to go though. All I want is good competition to prepare the World Cup, the motive is still to reach the semi-finals of the AFC championships, commented Nicolai. This would be the third time that India is hosting a continental event in football and the honorable CM asserted how big an honour it is, in his address to the gathering, Goa is the only State in India to have Football as the State sport. The State has played host to the prestigious 3rd Lusofonia Games wherein huge sports infrastructure were carried out, the Indian Super League in 2014 & 2015 and also hosted the ISL Finals Now with the Asian Confederation Cup 2016, BRICS U-17 Championship and the FIFA World Cup U-17 events, planned to be hosted in the State, we are going in the direction of making Goa, a Sport State and in time we will be looking at Sports tourism as a profitable venture. Goa is deeply committed to the development of Football, the Indian team that will participate in this World Cup Qualifiers has its home base here and all the National Football Academies are also in Goa, Said, Shri. Laxmikant Parsekar, Chief Minister Goa. Also speaking at the ceremony, General Secretary of the AIFF, Kushal Das said, For us it is a great honour to be hosting this tournament, it s a preparation for the FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017 next year and I am certain Goa will leave no stone unturned to make this event a successful one. Groups: Group A: India (hosts), UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iran Group B: Kyrgyzstan, Vietnam, Japan, Australia Group C: Iraq, Oman, Malaysia, Korea Republic Group D: Yemen, Thailand, Uzbekistan, DPR Korea 1

3 FIFA Workshop to review progress of State FAs organised A two-day Workshop to review the progress made by the State Associations under the State Development plan ended in Goa on May 26. Besides the General Secretaries for the six chosen States, Technical Officers and Marketing Officers of the respective State FAs attended the Workshop. The State Development Plan was launched in line of AIFF s Strategic Plan to strengthen the State FAs. We are here to set the action plan for the next 12 months, Mike Pfister, Senior Development Manager, Member Associations & Development Officer, FIFA, told www. the-aiff.com. In the Workshop we reviewed the last six months and trained full time professionals for better delivery of the Programmes. We also involved the Secretaries to bridge and integrate the full time staff into the daily functioning of the State FAs, Dr. Shaji Prabhakaran, FIFA Regional Development Officer, South and Central Asia, said. It s basically a stock taking of where the different State Associations involved in the Project are at the moment, Mike stated, only to add: The good news is that there is a strong commitment from all the six State Associations. Complementing Mike, Dr. Shaji added: The purpose for which we initiated the Project seems to be working. There has been a satisfactory progress and I need to compliment the States Associations and people working on the Project. AFC Grassroots Day celebrated with grandeur FIFA has granted a budget of USD to the six State Associations for their various development activities. FIFA will be paying to the State Associations to manage the Youth League, Women s League, Coach Education Programmes and Grassroots Programmes, Dr. Shaji informed. In fact, it s an activity based budget. The State Associations need to come up with their expenditure and activity plan. It s up for discussion and if it s convincing the payment would be done, Mike added. The entire Project is an investment from FIFA where they expect sustainable development and capacity building Dr. Shaji maintained. Dempo win 2nd Division, book I-League ticket All India Football Federation celebrated the AFC Grassroot v s Day amidst activity and widespread participation from all stakeholders across the length and breadth of the Country. Keen in spreading the game among the kids the Day saw Hero I-League Clubs, Hero Indian Super League Clubs, State Associations, Grassroots Centres, over 70 Private Academies and others organize Festivals to enthusiase the future stars into the Beautiful Game. It was in 2013 that All India Football Federation were nominated among the top-three AFC Grassroots MA of the Year and were conferred the AFC President s Recognition Award for Grassroots Development in Close on the heels of the success of the AIFF Academy Accreditation Programme, the AIFF in an effort to encourage mass participation also awarded extra points to all those Private Academies who organised Festivals on the day. The points are a part of the evaluation process of the Academy Accreditation. With over 8000 kids having participated played on the special day in 2015, the AIFF targeted kids to take part and get introduced to the sport this year. Dempo SC took the final match of the Second Division League against Minerva Academy FC by the scruff of the neck owing to the first-half brace by Milagres Gonsalves and a goal by Felix Chidi. Following this stupendous win, the Goan outfit cemented the coveted berth in the Hero I-League Dempo SC started all guns blazing in front of the top brass of the club s management and they needed only 9 minutes to get their nose in front when Milagres Gonsalves headed a long ball unleashed by Mandar Rao Desai from the top of the box. 4 minutes later, Felix Chidi doubled the lead following a scintillating solo run. They didn t look back after that. 2

4 AIFF NEWSLETTER May 31, 2016 AIFF organised the AIFF Youth Cup in Goa to provide exposure for the U-16 National Team presently preparing for the FIFA U-17 World Cup India Here are some images from India s campaign where the young guns finished on 2 points from 4 matches. 3

5 AIFF Elite Academy s Five Man Army sign for Chennaiyin s Youth Setup All India Football Federation has facilitated the signing of five of AIFF Elite Academy boys with Hero Indian Super League Champions Chennaiyin FC. The five AIFF Elite Academy boys Anirudh Thapa, Prosenjit Chakraborty, Jerry Lalrinzuala, Baoringdao Bodo and Bedashwor Singh -- all of whom who are presently training at French Club FC Metz have been signed by the Hero ISL Champions on a long-term deal. The boys who were scouted by AIFF in 2012 have been part of the triumphant Indian U-16 squad in the U-16 SAFF Championship in 2013, Indian U-16 squad in the AFC U-16 Qualifiers (in Kuwait in 2013), the Indian U-16 squad in the ACT 2013, Indian U-19 squad in the SAFF U-19 Championship and many other International exposure Tours which were all organised by the AIFF. Besides, they also played a stellar role in AIFF Elite Academy retaining the U-19 I-League earlier in AIFF General Secretary Mr. Kushal Das said the priority was to ensure a smooth transition for the boys after graduating out of the AIFF Elite Academy. Very often many a talent is lost in the transition phase. In an effort to arrest the slump, we were looking out for a Club who has a vision of stressing on nurturing Youth Players. Hence, we are pleased to help the boys move to Chennaiyin FC s youth setup. I would like to congratulate Chennaiyin FC for taking this visionary step for Youth and Player Development and I hope other Clubs follow suit. Many of our previous Academy graduates have had substantial playing time for the Hero I-League and Hero ISL and we look forward to the five boys to make a mark in their Club and earn laurels for the Country, Mr. Das maintained. FIVE STAR BAGAN REIGN SUPREME Mohun Bagan ended the season on a perfect note when they thrashed Aizawl FC 5-0 to lift the Hero Federation Cup in Guwahati. 4