Courtesy: goal.com

by Rahul Bali

The Indian FA are keen to kick-start a futsal league in India and are expected to announce their plans later this year

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) have informed state associations of their plan to come up with a Futsal League in India.

“The AIFF is the governing body for all forms of Football, including Futsal, in India and we will be announcing our plans, in relation to Futsal, in due course,” read a letter from AIFF general secretary Kushal Das to state associations earlier this week.

With Premier Futsal League announcing the dates of their inaugural season, set to take place between July 15 to 24, and also getting a broadcaster on board, the Indian FA has asked its affiliated members to not cooperate with the said league.

“This is to bring to your notice that AIFF is not involved with the proposed Premier Futsal League, the news of launch of which has been making rounds in media in the recent past. The competition is neither sanctioned by AIFF nor is organized under the aegis of AIFF. Further, the organizing body – Futsal Association of India (FAI) is not a member or affiliated in any way with, the AIFF, Asian Football Confederation (AFC) or FIFA,” the letter stated.

Das urged the state associations to inform the clubs affiliated with them and the players to steer clear of the Premier Futsal League.

“As members of AIFF, all state associations are to comply with the statutes and regulations of AIFF and their actions should be in compliance with the constitution of AIFF,” Das mentioned.

Indian Football Association’s (IFA), which is the governing body for football in West Bengal, have already informed the clubs and players associated with them.

“Yes we have received that letter and have taken it into consideration. IFA is doing its best to make sure there is no problem and we have issued a notice to all our affiliated members and stakeholders,” said Utpal Ganguly, president of IFA, adding that IFA hasn’t been in contact with FAI.

Meanwhile, Dinesh Raj, Managing Director of Premier Futsal League, remained unfazed when informed of the above mentioned letter by the AIFF. He instead opted to focus on the progress they have made with regards to securing the services of Futsal Legend, Falcao to selling the Chennai franchise.

“Premier Futsal is world’s first multi-nation professional league with Luis Figo at helm as President and we are confident that the league will be a huge success. We are astounded by the response the league has already gathered in such short duration with Sony Pictures Networks coming on-board as Broadcaster partner and Virat Kohli as League Ambassador.

“We recently announced the sale of our Chennai franchise to Mr. Rohit Ramesh of The Hindu Group and are in advanced stages on agreement for other cities. We will very soon unveil the line-up of marquee international footballers and with the Pele of Futsal, ‘Falcao’ already signed on for five years, several other top futsallers will follow suit starting next week,” he responded.




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