By Samindra Kunti
October 6 – The All India Football Federation president Praful Patel (pictured) will roll out his master plan for Indian football to the FIFA Council at the end of the month in aim to underpin his bid for the U-20 World Cup. He has also expressed interest in bringing the Asian Cup to India.
On Friday India and the United States kick off the U-17 World Cup in New Delhi. Patel wants to capitalise on the buzz in the Indian game to grow football from the youth level up.
“It is D-day,” said Patel. “From our side we have to ensure everything goes picture-perfect and we have had no major issues so far in the whole run-up to the tournament. The momentum looks good and stadiums will be reasonably full.”
India is focusing on the curtain raiser and navigating daunting matches against Colombia and Ghana, but Patel is running his own parallel agenda. His mandate at the AIFF ends in 2019, but he is determined on keeping a pivotal role in the Indian and Asian game.
Patel is also a senior AFC vice-president and member of the FIFA finance committee. The seasoned football official and politician, who runs for the Nationalist Congress Party, has been invited by the FIFA Council to join its session at the end of the month in Kolkata as the U-17 World Cup culminates with the final at the Salt Lake Stadium.
Last month the AIFF said that India will bid for the U-20 World Cup. In the spring South Korea hosted the tournament which England won by beating Venezuela 1-0.
Apart from a request for potential support from FIFA for a national centre of excellence, Patel will pitch India as a booming football nation to the FIFA Council, which, beyond the bid for the U-20 World Cup, also wants to land the Club World Cup and, on a continental level, the Asian Cup.
“I would urge FIFA to take up our U-20 bid very seriously,” said Patel. “We had at one time toyed with the idea of [hosting] the Club World Cup. We will also try and work on that. The momentum of the U-17 team shouldn’t be lost on India.”
The United Arab Emirates will host the next two Club World Cups, but India is eyeing the edition in 2021. FIFA president Gianni Infantino wants to expand the tournament to 32 teams as of 2019.
Patel and the AIFF have also expressed an interested in bringing the Asian Cup to the country. “We are also hopeful that in the next two or three editions we can host the Asian Cup,” said Patel. India are on the brink of qualifying for the 2019 continental tournament with a qualifier against Macau coming up next week. The next Asian Cup will be the first edition in a 24-team format.
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