New Delhi: The All India Football Federation has sought players for AFC Women’s Futsal Asian Cup trials but won’t bear expenses for them, it has written to its member associations, in yet another indication of cutting corners to make ends meet.
India plan to participate in the quadrennial tournament for the first time in its 2025 edition, where 12 teams drawn in three groups of four. The first-placed and second-placed teams in each group, and the two best third-placed teams among all groups will progress to the knockout stage.
Through a letter by AIFF’s acting general secretary M Satyanarayan, all its member units have been requested to recommend between 4-10 players for the regional trials that will be held on August 15 onwards following which a central trial and camp will be organised in September.
“We will aim to conduct regional trials at a location near your region. The AIFF will bear the expenses of the venue facilities, services and related logistics however the players will need to bear their travel, food and accommodation,” he wrote in a letter in possession of News9 Sports.
The AIFF said it will inform each state association specific dates for trials and venues later.
“This is the first time we have decided to participate in women’s futsal. We have not yet finalised what is the process of selecting players and are only seeking the response of the states now, based on which we will take a call on team composition,” Satyanarayan said.
Cash-short AIFF
The federation has battled shortage of funds, leading to budget cut for its competitions and reduction of money for I-League individual awards.
The I-League’s expenditure was lowered by Rs 4.02 crore, down to Rs 10.18 crore from Rs 14.20 crore while the competitions’ budget shrunk by nearly Rs 20 crore to Rs 42.84 crore to Rs 62.25 crore.
Allocation for I-League’s second division were decreased to Rs 1.69 crore from Rs 3.36 crore as the AIFF’s income is expected to dwindle by nearly Rs 11 crore in 2024-25.
The AIFF’s income over expenditure saw a deficit of Rs 14.81 crore while its cash and bank balances nosedived by Rs 11.91 crore in the 2022-23 financial year.
It has forced the AIFF to ‘share’ its newly-appointed men’s national team coach Manolo Marquez with Indian Super League outfit FC Goa, with an arrangement in place for the Spaniard to coach both the sides simultaneously for a year after which he will take over on a full-time basis.
Even after this, the federation has also sought enhanced assistance from the Sports ministry to meet Manolo’s salary.
Potential sanctions from lawsuits by Manolo’s predecessor Igor Stimac and former secretary general Shaji Prabhakaran could add to AIFF’s economic strain.
But in spite of the financial strife, the AIFF has appointed a new paid full-time secretary general, who will assume office in August, taking over from Satyanarayan, who is expected to continue as deputy secretary.
India plan to participate in the AFC Women’s Futsal Asian Cup for the first time in its 2025 edition, and has requested its member associations to recommend between 4-10 players for regional trials. Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
