VIDEO: Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa pledges Indian football development support!

The AFC presidential candidate Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa of Bahrain wants to support the development of Indian football and wants the beautful game in India to rival cricket's popularity.

FIFA opens bidding process for five competitions in 2016 & 2017, including 2017 Under-17 World Cup

World football governing body FIFA has been offering India to host the 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup, but due to numerous reasons the All India Football Federation and the Government of India have not been able to give necessary guarantees to FIFA which has led the world governing body to include the 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup as part of the open bidding process for competitions in 2016 and 2017.

The AIFF is trying its best to be hosts of the 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup, but hasn't gotten the necessary government support which is needed to be a host of a FIFA event.

FIFA has opened the bidding process for five competitions in 2016 and 2017. The 209 member associations have been invited to submit their interest in hosting the FIFA U-20 and U-17 Women's World Cups in 2016, the FIFA U-20 and U-17 World Cups in 2017 and the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in 2017.

The bidding timeline for these competitions requires the member associations who wish to host these events to submit a declaration of interest by 15 May 2013. The deadline to provide the hosting agreement with the complete Bid Book is 15 November 2013, with the final decision on the hosts currently scheduled to take place at the FIFA Executive Committee meeting in December 2013.


FIFA World Cups open for bidding

FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2016
The development of football for girls and women has long been one of FIFA’s top priorities. This is the “youngest” of FIFA’s competitions. A major milestone was reached in 2008 when the inaugural FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup was held in New Zealand, marking the first time ever that men and women had the same youth tournament structure in football. The creation of this event (with 16 teams) has encouraged member associations to further develop women’s football at youth level and to set up teams in even younger age groups. In addition, this tournament has enjoyed support from different sectors of society in its host countries. For example, the last edition of the tournament in Azerbaijan in 2012 was also a commercial success as four national companies, representing the main industries in the country, came on board as National Supporters of the tournament.

FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup 2016
The popularity of women’s football has grown in leaps and bounds in recent years, as evidenced by the growing numbers participating in the game worldwide as well as the steadily rising spectator levels for women’s competitions, with the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Germany 2010 holding the attendance record of 395,295 spectators and achieving an average global in-home audience per live match of 2.8 million. This is the second most important women’s FIFA tournament and serves as a final stage of preparation for young players prior to the FIFA Women’s World Cup™.

FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017
The strengthening of youth football is another of FIFA’s top priorities with the aim of enabling young players to work towards the FIFA World Cup™ at senior level. Today, this biennial teenage tournament featuring 24 teams is an established event on the global football calendar and continues to serve as the launch pad for many illustrious football careers. It is the third oldest of FIFA’s competitions.

FIFA U-20 World Cup 2017
Like its younger brother, this youth tournament features 24 teams, making it the joint second largest FIFA event. Diego Maradona, Dunga, Marco van Basten and Lionel Messi all earned their international spurs at this competition, which has blossomed in size and impact since its inception in 1977. This significance is reflected in its growing appeal to spectators, with the 2011 edition enjoying a worldwide cumulative TV audience of over 500 million.

FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2017
This World Cup is held every two years, and 2017 will be the ninth edition. Sixteen teams will participate in the final competition and one stadium will be required. The duration of the competition is approximately 10 to 12 days. The location of the venue should echo the sun, sea and sand of Copacabana beach, the birthplace of beach soccer.

The India Panel at the Soccerex European Forum

For a second year running the Soccerex European Forum gave a platform for Indian football to showcase itself on Thursday, April 11 afternoon with this years panel having the title 'Awakening Football's Sleeping Giant'.

The India session was moderated by Sukhvinder Singh, the Managing Director of Libero Sports India. The panelists taking part were Vivek Narayan (Director Sports, Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Government of India), Rajpal Singh (Director Sports & Youth Affairs, FICCI), Kunal Dua (Head - Sports Marketing, Panasonic India) and Shirish Kulkarni (Executive Director – DSK Group, Owner of DSK Shivajians FC - Pune).

The aim of the session was to shed light on the Indian football market besides giving a positive outlook to the international football fraternity, whose most generic question has been for years, when will the 'Sleeping Giant' finally wake-up and be a player in the global football business.

That question could not be answered by the session, but one key statement came from Vivek Narayan when he said that the Government of India had received a new draft proposal from FIFA on hosting the 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup, which the world governing body would like us to host but for that certain regulations would need to be changed.

Rajpal Singh spoke about the role of FICCI as being a bridge between the government and sports federations, while also organising its own events as FICCI Turf and FICCI GOAL in bringing the different stakeholders together.

Kunal Dua spoke about what Panasonic India has done to activate football as a marketing tool, but also using Bollywood and Cricket stars for its promotion. He also spoke about what Indian football needs to do to attract further sponsorship.

Shirish Kulkarni spoke from a perspective of a team owner of a 2nd Division I-League club in DSK Shivajians FC, which gave a different insight then the other speakers and also some infos on the I-League Franchise expansion plan.

In the end the session gave a positive outlook though the problems became evident when the Q&A session was held and the people present asked the tough questions.

PepsiCo and the Asian Football Development Project Sign Strategic Partnership Agreement for India & Middle East

In a ground-breaking initiative for social development and for the sports community, global food and beverage leader PepsiCo, announced that it has entered into a one-year strategic partnership with the Asian Football Development Project (AFDP). Under the theme 'Kick for Hope', the partnership will cover over 40 countries with a special focus on India.

The signing of the agreement will see both PepsiCo and AFDP join hands in the execution of major social responsibility projects using football as a tool for social development in at least 18 countries throughout Asia in 2013 and touching the lives of thousands of people. The focus will be on India and 11 countries in the Middle East including the UAE, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen.

Across all countries, PepsiCo will be joining AFDP in the execution of special grassroots football projects or initiating new ones; in addition to building on the power and popularity of the game to increase participation of women and youth. In India, PepsiCo and AFDP will be partnering with Magic Bus India Foundation, a Sport for Development organisation. As part of the partnership, PepsiCo and AFDP will support Magic Bus Sport for Development (S4D) programme across Indian states - Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Karnataka and Maharashtra to provide sports opportunities for marginalised community youth and women in India.

Joint awareness raising activities to promote the importance of football for health and well-being and as a driver for social development will also take place throughout the year. Moreover, capacity building and training is planned for coaches and referees.

The partnership was formally announced at a press conference in Dubai attended by His Royal Highness Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, Chairman of the AFDP and FIFA Vice-President representing Asia, and Saad Abdul-Latif, Chief Executive Officer of PepsiCo Asia, Middle East & Africa.

The AFDP is the brainchild of HRH Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan who has dedicated his personal time and effort to roll out the project throughout Asia. Football plays an important role in shaping the culture of many societies and the AFDP aims to encourage social inclusion and participation by all members of society in the game with a particular emphasis on women and youth.

"We are extremely happy to be partnering with PepsiCo - not only are they a world-leading company but one that is totally committed to social development particularly in relation to the education of youth and empowerment of women through sport. This is a perfect fit with AFDP's mission and values, and we are also striving to implement the same level of best-practice PepsiCo exhibit in their everyday business. With PepsiCo as our partner, we know that we can work closely together to capitalize on the unique power of the world's favourite game to drive positive social change and promote sustainable development across Asia." said HRH Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein.

"PepsiCo has a long association with football, the world's most popular sport and we strongly believe that it is a powerful agent for social change and development," said Saad Abdul-Latif, Chief Executive Officer, PepsiCo Asia, Middle East & Africa. "As we enter into this strategic partnership with the AFDP, we trust that through our shared values and the strength of our conviction in the power of the game to drive social development, we will be able to positively impact local communities in Asia and in the Middle East," he added.

Women¨s football in the Middle East and India is developing strongly, and, with the projects to be rolled out as part of this partnership and under the theme of 'Kick for Hope', it is anticipated to grow even further.

"We at AFDP very much admire PepsiCo's long-standing commitment to empowering women especially in the Middle East and India where there are many challenges to overcome and stereotypes to break. Together with PepsiCo we hope to further facilitate access to safe environments where women and girls can get together and actively engage in a fun, healthy and safe sport that builds character and teaches social skills which are useful on and off the field, both football and society as a whole in Asia can only benefit from that," said HRH Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein.

"We believe that the strength of the PepsiCo brand is in a community relations context, and the projects planned as part of our partnership are all about empowerment to encourage greater participation in football by women and youth. The core of this partnership is grassroots football, realizing dreams and giving opportunities to those who are less fortunate and PepsiCo is proud to be part of that."

AFDP and PepsiCo will jointly encourage the creation of women's football tournaments in the countries covered by the agreement with a focus on the Middle East and India.

"Women's football is one of, if not the fastest growing sports internationally. There are now over 30 million women and girls playing around the globe, and many of them have dreams to play at elite level, to represent their countries with pride, and some even to become World Champions like our talented Japanese sisters. PepsiCo's support will enable AFDP to create more new pathways for young women - even those from marginalized areas - to achieve such dreams. That is very important to AFDP. The game at all levels must be accessible to all," said HRH Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein.

"This partnership will also support youth football programmes in the Middle East and India at a grassroots level. The benefits of organised, competitive sports to young people cannot be overstated," said Saad Abdul-Latif. "Football encourages team spirit, fitness and healthy competition which are all valuable life lessons for young people as they build their future," he added.

The AFDP has supported nationwide grassroots programmes in several Asian countries. For example, in the Philippines, a programme for 6-12 year old children in schools, regional football associations and clubs across 33 regions is well underway, while in Chinese Taipei, nationwide youth leagues for Under-10 and Under-12 boys and girls have been introduced.

PepsiCo as well has a long history and close association with football which is well rooted in its Pepsi brand campaigns but more importantly in its signature social responsibility projects focused on building the skills of youth in the field of football.

The AFDP is focused on increasing its impact through request-based project support in various Asian countries. The AFDP aims to implement at least 10 new projects this year in the Middle East and India, such as Mine Awareness projects for refugees in Jordan, and hopes to have as many as 217 teams comprising 2,540 children participating in the Chinese Taipei Youth League.

In one of the AFDP's established projects, the Faisal Cup for Underprivileged and Refugee Children, organized in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, saw the participation of over 600 children and 1,100 community members. In Cambodia, the AFDP is providing full-time training, housing and educational opportunities for 30 girls at risk of human trafficking. The grassroots football initiative in Bhutan is benefiting as many as 3,000 students and 200 teachers in 100 schools, and, in India, it is also organising football programmes benefiting 250,000 underprivileged children.

India to host 2015 AFC Asian medical conference

The AFC Medical Committee, which met on Tuesday in Kuala Lumpur under the chairmanship of Dato' Dr. Gurcharan Singh (Malaysia), decided to award the hosting rights of the 5th AFC Conference on Science and Football Medicine 2015 to India.

The members agreed to introduce AFC Meritorious Award for Football Medicine that will be bestowed during the AFC Conference on Football Science and Medicine, an event held every four years. The award is open to doctors, physiotherapists and allied health professionals that have rendered longstanding professional assistance and scientific research towards the development of football and football medicine in particular.

At the outset, Dato' Dr. Gurcharan Singh said AFC educational programs such as "Football for Health", Football Medicine Regional Courses and Eleven Plus and AFC Travelling Fellow – Football Medicine have been well received by all and advocates a good image of AFC.

"Myanmar and Sri Lanka have embraced the 'Football for Health' programme and other countries have also shown their interest. We will actively implement this programme in the next few years in other countries," he said.

"I am happy to note that AFC is setting new standards in medical education and healthcare of players."

He expressed concerns of positive doping cases at the national and regional competitions.

"We had only one positive case in AFC competitions last year but nine positive cases were reported by national anti-doping organisations. We have to now focus on lower level and work with the national associations to keep Football clean," he added.

All decisions taken by this committee need to be ratified by the AFC Executive Committee to take effect.

East Bengal Club among top 450 clubs in the world

Kolkata giants East Bengal Club are placed 447th by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) amongst the elite clubs in the world of football.

East Bengal are joint 447th with AS FAR Rabat (Morocco), St. Mirren FC (Scotland), Omiya Ardija Saitama (Japan), Budapest Honvéd FC (Hungary) and CD Aurora Cochabamba (Bolivia) in the rankings. The month earlier East Bengal were 549th in the rankings, but due to their AFC Cup victory they moved into the top 450.

Top in this global club ranking is surprisingly FC Chelsea ahead of Club Atlético de Madrid, FC Bayern Munich, SC Corinthians Paulista São Paulo and former number one side FC Barcelona.

The IFFHS is an organisation that specialises in collating statistical data on global football and receives support and recognition from FIFA and the continental confederations.

IFFHS World Club Rankings

The AFC statement on Lebanon match-fixing case

The Asian Football Confederation has received the summary report from the Lebanese Football Association on their investigations and subsequent action against involvement of Lebanese players in match-fixing. AFC has also requested the Lebanese Football Association to provide the full investigation report.

The Lebanese Football Association has informed the Member Associations of India, Malaysia and Indonesia of sanctions on Lebanese players plying their trade in these countries. As per Article 140 of the AFC Disciplinary Code "a sanction imposed by a Member Association has the same effect in each Member Association of AFC as if the sanction had been imposed by any one of them".

The three players who are playing outside Lebanon are: Mahmoud El Ali (Persiba Balipapan, Indonesia), Ramez Dayoub (Selangor FA, Malaysia) and Akram Moghrabi (Churchill Brothers SC, India).

It is interesting to note that Akram Moghrabi just a few days ago left Churchill Brothers SC


The AFC has no knowledge on any suspicion surrounding Lebanon's any of the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches.

The AFC would like to congratulate the Lebanese Football Association for carrying out the investigation and imposing sanctions on its players and would continue to support such initiatives by our Member Associations.

The AFC has also set up an internal task force to educate the Member Associations on ways and measures to combat this menace and monitor and coordinate with everyone involved to fight match-fixing in AFC competitions.

AIFF initiates the process incorporating new teams directly into I-League

With an aim to induct a minimum of two new clubs as part of the I-League, the All India Football Federation is conducting an Open House Meeting for interested agencies to discuss and solicit suggestions prior to finalising the Request for Proposal for formally inviting the bids.

The meeting is scheduled on March 5, 2013 from 3 PM at the AIFF Football House, Dwarka in New Delhi.

The winning bidders shall be granted the right to own and operate a new Football Club for competing in I-League from the 2013/14 season onwards and may also have the opportunity (if applicable and subject to qualification) to compete in the Asian Football Confederation organised continental competitions.

67th Santosh Trophy: Bengal Football Team Sports a New JERSEY!

Ahead of the 67th Santosh Trophy, the new jersey of the Bengal Football Team sporting the e.i.n.s. sport logo was unveiled today at the Bengal Club. e.i.n.s sport is a maven sports marketing company, that is working towards development of football in India. Bengal is sporting a new look with e.i.n.s. sport logo on its front!

As Rainer Appold, CEO – e.i.n.s. sport said, "Marketing of football in India is still at its nascent stage. It is our privilege to be associated with the Bengal Football team and we are grateful to IFA to allow us to be the jersey sponsors for the Bengal Team for the forthcoming Santosh Trophy."

Launching the new jersey with e.i.n.s. sport logo, Utpal Kumar Ganguli, the IFA's Honorary Secretary, said, "I am grateful for the support extended by e.i.n.s. sport for the Bengal team for the forthcoming Santosh Trophy and hope for a long association with them. The Bengal team after winning the trophy for two successive years did not live upto their reputation last year having failed to qualify for the semi final. However this year, the team, with the experienced Manoranjan Bhattyacharya as the Chief Coach and assisted by experienced Satyajit Chatterjee is determined to bring back the trophy which will make e.i.n.s. sport appreciate the sponsorship support extended by them."

The 20 player Bengal state Santosh Trophy squad & officials:

Goalkeepers
Arnab Das Sharma (Mohammedan Sporting Club), Debjit Majumdar (Bhowanipore Club), Manas Barua (Southern Samity)

Defenders
Bapi Saha (Prayag United SC), Soumik Roy (Prayag United SC), Deepak Singh, Sagram Mandi (Bhowanipore Club), Sourav Chakrabarty (Mohun Bagan AC), Gour Naskar (Prayag United SC), Saikat Saha Roy (East Bengal Club)

Midfielders
Mohammed Muktar, Arjun Chatterjee (Mohun Bagan AC), Gopal Debnath (Aryan Club), Abhishek Aich (Calcutta Port Trust), Jagannath Sana (Bhowanipore Club), Francis Xavier (Prayag United SC)

Forwards
Dipendu Biswas (Mohun Bagan AC, Captain), Nabin Hela (Bhowanipore Club), Anjan Dey (Prayag United SC)

Officials
Manaranjan Bhattacharyya (Coach), Satyajit Chatterjee (Assistant Coach), Partha Chakrabarty (Goalkeeper Coach)


Santosh Trophy is the national state football championship with the trophy named after the late Maharaja Sir Manmatha Nath Roy Chowdhary of Santosh, who had been the President of the Indian Football Association and the donor of the trophy.

The 67th Santosh Trophy is being co-hosted by the states of Uttar Pradesh and Kerala from February 1 to March 3, 2013 with Bengal placed along with Delhi and Railways in Group A of the Qualifying round I with two out of the three teams moving into the Quarterfinal league phase. Bengal holds the record of being the champions on 31 occasions.

About e.i.n.s. sport
e.i.n.s. sport an Indo-German company with a young and dynamic team working in the fields of sports and entertainment is set to focus on the game of football, and is looking forward to the opportunity of working with IFA in future.

New balls please – will India kick it like Germany?

On January 31, German Ambassador to India Michael Steiner hosted Oceania's footballer of the century and former Bundesliga champion Wynton Rufer on the lawns of the German Residence in New Delhi. Wynton Rufer was accompanied by some thirty Indian kids of his Delhi based YMCA football camp.

Kick-starting the football diplomacy, Ambassador Steiner said, "India is a cricket nation. And yet, India is also more and more into football. Wynton Rufer and the kids of his camp are the best prove for that."

"Football unites both our countries: Germany is a traditional soccer giant, having won three World Cups and three European Championships. India is a rising soccer giant in Asia, having just won the Nehru Cup 2012. Robin Dutt, the sports director of the German Football Association DFB, the biggest world-wide, has Indian roots. German football professionals train Indian players in Kolkata and Mumbai. All in all, very good conditions for a thriving Indo-German football cooperation."

"My personal dream is that India will kick it like Germany one day – and, who knows, we will see the first football match ever between India and Germany."

Together with YMCA, the German Embassy supports Wynton Rufe'’s football camp.

TenAction to show India vs Palestine Live!

The All India Football Federation and their marketing partners IMG-Reliance have finalised in TenAction a broadcaster for the India vs Palestine international friendly on Wednesday, February 6 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi.

Sport channel TenAction will telecast the India vs Palestine friendly from 6.25pm onwards in what the Indian football fans hope will be a memorable night in Kochi, where international football returns after many, many years...

2014 AFC Challenge Cup: India submits hosting bid!

The All India Football Federation has formally handed in its bid to the Asian Football Confederation to host the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup, which is a qualification tournament for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup for the second tier nations in Asia.

India in 2008 last hosted the AFC Challenge Cup in Hyderabad and New Delhi with Team India winning the tournament with 4-1 final victory against Tajikistan to qualify for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup in Qatar. But earlier this year Team India fared miserably at the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup in Nepal by losing all matches. The tournament was won by North Korea who qualified for Australia in 2015.

But the will to host does not mean a spot in the final tournament of eight nations at the AFC Challenge Cup. With 20 nations applying to participate in the pan-Asian tournament, there will be qualifiers set to be played in March 2013 to determine the final eight nations.

Once the final eight nations have been confirmed, only then will the Asian Football Confederation confirm the hosts for the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup though sources within the AFC say that India have good chances to become the hosts if India qualify for the final round.

Certainly it is a wise move by the AIFF to hand in its bid documents and believe that Team India gets through the qualifiers.

London has more world class stadia then India!

Last week I spend a couple of days in London and on my way in flying over London I had the chance to see numerous football and sporting venues from above. Then and there I realised that a metropolis of the size of London with a population of over 8 million has more world class stadia for football then a country of 1,2 billion in India. It was a harsh, but true realisation in the air over London...

While flying into London I saw and recognised White Hart Lane (Tottenham Hotspurs), the Emirates Stadium (Arsenal FC), the new Olympic Stadium in Stratford, Stamford Bridge (Chelsea FC) and Wembley. Only five stadia one could say, but as we had to wait for our turn to land the pilot unintentionally took a route close to these venues though I missed out on Upton Park (West Ham United), Craven Cottage (Fulham FC) and Loftus Road (Queens Park Rangers FC) as London boasts of six English Premier League clubs and as many as 14 clubs across the four English professional leagues.

The interesting fact is that these venues are brand new like the Olympic Stadium, redeveloped like Wembley or older one's like White Hart Lane, Craven Cottage or Loftus Road; but all these venues have a certain standard that fans can enjoy when they watch football or sporting events and clubs are thinking of further redevelopment or shifting to new state of the art venues.

In Indian football or sports in general we talk about infrastructure, but there is a massive lack of it. No venue for football in India is really world class with the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi coming the closest, but still after many millions spend on the stadium ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games there are massive deficiencies at the ground and inside the building before it can be called a truly world class venue.

Maybe the officials think about this and work on plans to change it or otherwise we will continue to have the situation as was prevalent at the 2012 Nehru Cup in New Delhi and the 2012 Federation Cup in Jamshedpur and Siliguri.

Infrastructure is one key element of sporting development...

Sunil Chhetri makes official Sporting B league debut

Indian football captain Sunil Chhetri finally made his league debut for his side Sporting Clube de Portugal 'B' in the Portuguese Second Division (Liga de Honra) against SC Freamunde as he came on as a second half substitute.

SCP 'B' won 2-0 away to SC Freamunde through a brace from Ricardo Esgaio (49th & 65th minute) with Sporting B moving-up a place into second place in the league table behind Belenenses Lisboa.

Sunil Chhetri had gotten some playing time for Sporting B in pre-season, but then he was away for a few weeks on India assignment at the 2012 Nehru Cup and then returned as the tournaments champion and 'Most Valuable Player'.

But at Sporting B he had to start from scratch, get accustomed again and integrate into a working team as the young Sporting B side have been impressive since the start of the Liga de Honra season.

Finally yesterday Sporting B coach Oceano Andrade da Cruz gave Sunil Chhetri his league debut in the 84th minute and one can only hope it was the first of many more to come from the India captain. As the match had been decided by then it was an uneventful first game for Sunil Chhetri.


Please LIKE www.facebook.com/arunfoot & follow @Arunfoot on Twitter to get further updates on Sunil Chhetri's season at Sporting Clube de Portugal 'B' Team along with further news on what Players of Indian origin are doing across Europe!

Indian Government gives AIFF guarantees to host 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup!

It has taken the Government of India and the likely involved state governments close to eight months, but now the All India Football Federation has all necessary guarantees and approvals to put its formal bid forward to host the 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup.

The above was officially conveted to the AIFF in a letter from Sports Minister Ajay Maken dated Wednesday, September 19.

"It gives me immense pleasure to inform you that the Government supports the possibility that FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017 may be staged in India," Maken said in the letter.

"Also, the Government supports the presence of FIFA and of any FIFA member associations in India in connection with the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017.

"The Government will also support all efforts that envisage the hosting and staging of FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017 and those that contribute to the development of football in India," Maken said.

"A detailed communication on the guarantees sought by AIFF is being conveyed to the General Secretary of the AIFF, separately, by my department," he added.

With the Government of India now giving its full support to India's bid for the 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup, the AIFF is set to hand its application in the coming days with a final decision on the 2017 hosts to be taken by the FIFA Executive Committee at their meeting on December 14 in Tokyo during the 2012 FIFA World Club Championship.

VIDEO: Karim Bencharifa's Coach Speak (ARS Series)

Salgaocar SC's successful coach Karim Bencherifa talks about what qualities coaches look for in young budding footballers at youth camps like the Airtel Rising Stars.

SAFF Women's Cup - Stats: India triumph again!

The second edition of the SAFF Women's Championship was organised by the South Asian Football Federation and the tournament was held from September 7 to 16 at the CR&FC Place ground in Colombo, Sri Lanka with India defending their crown.

The Indian Women went into the tournament as the defending champions having won the inaugural edition with a 1-0 final win against Nepal in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh in December 2010 and this time around they beat Nepal 3-1 in the final.

India were drawn in Group A along with Bangladesh, Bhutan and hosts Sri Lanka, while Group B contained Afghanistan, Maldives, Nepal and Pakistan.


RESULTS

Quarterfinal League

Group A
Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Sri Lanka

07-Sep-2012: India 3-0 Bangladesh
07-Sep-2012: Sri Lanka 4-0 Bhutan
09-Sep-2012: Sri Lanka 0-5 India
09-Sep-2012: Bangladesh 1-0 Bhutan
11-Sep-2012: Sri Lanka 2-1 Bangladesh
11-Sep-2012: India 11-0 Bhutan

Group B
Afghanistan, Maldives, Nepal and Pakistan

08-Sep-2012: Nepal 8-0 Pakistan
08-Sep-2012: Maldives 1-1 Afghanistan
10-Sep-2012: Nepal 5-0 Maldives
10-Sep-2012: Pakistan 0-4 Afghanistan
12-Sep-2012: Nepal 7-1 Afghanistan
12-Sep-2012: Maldives 2-3 Pakistan

Semifinals
14-Sep-2012: India 11-0 Afghanistan
14-Sep-2012: Nepal 3-0 Sri Lanka

Final
16-Sep-2012: India 3-1 Nepal

VIDEO - ESPN: Blackburn Rovers to promote Indian football!

ESPN football pundit Shebby Singh is a global advisor for the Venky's and is now actively involved at English Championship club Blackburn Rovers. ESPN Sportscenter spoke with Shebby about the club, their Indian owners and their plans to support & promote Indian football.

VIDEO - FIFA TV: FIFA focuses on Asia's sleeping giant

A high level FIFA team headed by their General Secretary Jérôme Valcke visited India from September 4 to 7. Here is the report from FIFA TV about the visit and the outlook for India.

VIDEO - NDTV: FIFA GS Valcke talks what India needs to do to rise

India may have slipped in the FIFA world rankings but FIFA General Secretary Jérôme Valcke, in this exclusive interview to NDTV, says the country has a lot of potential to rise and become a powerful force in the sport.