AIFF general body meeting to be held on Jan 13

All India Football Federation's president Praful Patel on Tuesday chaired the Executive Committee meeting in New Delhi and it has been revealed that the General Body Meeting will be conducted on January 13, 2020.

The committee in its meeting congratulated the Indian senior women's team for winning the gold medal at the South Asian Games in Nepal.

Gurpreet Singh Sandhu was also applauded for winning the Arjuna Award.

"We still have a lot of work to do and a ground to cover. The preparation for the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup India 2020 is in full swing, and the girls are training under new Head Coach Thomas Dennerby," Patel said in an official statement.

The Committee also maintained a minute's silence for the sad demise of Amarendra Sharan, and Anjan Mitra.

Sunando Dhar, the CEO of the I-League apprised the Committee that as per ratification of the AFC Executive Committee, the League winners of the 2019-20 Hero Indian Super League will get a direct slot into the AFC Champions League 2021, while the 2019-20 Hero I-League champions will get a direct slot to the AFC Cup 2021.

"108 clubs across 14 states have shown interest to play in the Hero Indian Women's League. The aim is to increase the matches," Dhar said.

"The second division League will see 20 teams participating. It will kick-off in January, and continue till May with a break in between for the Hero Santosh Trophy. We also aim to touch 30000 players across 21 states in the Golden Baby Leagues, and the emphasis is being laid on getting girls introduced to the sport," he added.

The Committee also unanimously decided to launch the Futsal Club Championship from 2021. It also decided to launch an AIFF Football Masters Course from mid-2020.

In the meeting, it was also revealed that the fees to a state association hosting an international match has been reduced to Rs. 1,15,000 per game.