Indian football has grown exponentially in last few years: AIFF Sr VP

With the country set to host another FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2020, this time for women, the All India Football Federation senior vice president Subarta Dutta Tuesday said that the game has grown exponentially in the last few years.

Speaking on the sidelines of FICCI's GOAL Summit 2019, Dutta said: "Indian football is growing exponentially. The holistic development of Indian football over the last few years has been a major achievement, and all associated with it should be proud of.

"Indian football is being talked about in the nook and corner of the world, be it in terms of our national teams, or the FIFA World Cups that we have hosted, and will host," he added.

India hosted the FIFA U-17 World Cup for men in 2017 and is slated to the host women's U-17 World Cup in 2020.

"We have six FIFA approved stadiums, and we plan to add four more to them by 2022. The National Centre of Excellence which is coming up in West Bengal will be a state of the art centre which will help in the training of players, coaches, referees and officials," said Dutta.

"Today we have 60 accredited academies coupled with youth leagues and baby leagues. There are over 650 baby leagues being conducted with over 30,000 kids participating and this number will double over the years.