Courtesy: Economic Times


AIFF plans to launch official futsal league

by Gaurav Laghate

Sep 27, 2016

MUMBAI: The All India Football Federation (AIFF) is working on a plan to launch an "official" league of futsal, a short variant of football which is one of the fastest growing indoor games in the world, multiple sources in AIFF and the sports industry confirmed to ET.

"AIFF members have been mulling over launching a futsal league as it is gaining popularity across the globe," a person with direct knowledge of the development said. "It is also a natural progression for the federation after Indian Super League and I-League." He added that it could be mid-2017 by the time things are in place.

Earlier this year, a clutch of entrepreneurs joined hands with Xavier Britto, chairman of Indev Logistics, to launch a multinational futsal league in India—Premier Futsal. The team got Indian cricket sensation as brand ambassador (with a small equity) and former footballer Luis Figo as president.

But the launch of Premier Futsal did not go down well with the AIFF, which termed it unofficial and asked the state associations not to allow its players to take part in the league. In fact, AIFF general secretary Kushal Das sent out a letter to state associations, saying the AIFF is the governing body for "all forms of football, including futsal," in India.

According to experts, the AIFF's stance was similar to what the BCCI did to stop Subahsh Chandra's Indian Cricket League (ICL) back in 2007, before launching the Indian Premier League (IPL). "We had some initial discussion (about futsal league), but nothing has been finalised yet," Das told ET. He, however, did not respond to a mail sent by ET seeking more details. A mail sent to AIFF's partner IMG-Reliance also did not elicit any response till press time Monday.

Premier Futsal conducted the first season with international players Ronaldinho, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Hernan Crespo, Michel Salgado, Alessandro Rosa Viera and Falcao, who played alongside Indian futsallers. Later, the management also announced its decision to make the league a biannual event.

When asked if the launch of an official league will affect Premier Futsal, Abhinandan Balasubramanian, CEO of Premier Futsal Management, told ET that it will not impact their business plan.

"I don't think AIFF coming with its own league will create any issue for Premier Furtsal as we are a unique and first-of-its kind league across the world with a mix of international and local talent," he said. He added that his company has a vision and a sound business model. "It's great that AIFF is coming out with another futsal league. There is a big enough market to have two leagues and if they want, we will allow our players to play in their league as well," he said.


Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com