AIFF signs MoU with Japanese counterpart

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) and Japan Football Association (JFA) Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to intensify the development process of the sport in both the countries.

The MoU was signed between AIFF president Praful Patel and his JFA counterpart Daini Kuniya.

On the occasion, Patel said the MoU with the JFA will enable India to seek help from Japan on technical matters. He also said that many exchange programmes by various age-group teams will take place.

"It is a historic MoU. Japan is one of the best examples for Indian football to follow. The way Japan developed its football, they have set an example which India can follow. Not many years ago, they were not so powerful before making a transformation to become a leading football country in Asia and an important one in the world. We can follow their footsteps," he said.

"We will have cooperation at the technical level and our Under-17 team will visit Japan in the coming years regularly because we need to prepare a strong national team for the 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup. We will also focus on the women's football," he added. The FIFA U-17 event will be held in India.

Patel said India will utilise the "strengths" of Japanese football.

The Japanese team is ranked 48th in the world. It has competed in every World Cup starting with France 1998.

"It's a valuable partnership for us. Our focus of areas will be youth and grass-roots development," JFA boss Kuniya said through a translator.

"We are quite impressed with the rapid increase of popularity of football in India."