The All India Football Federation (AIFF) Executive Committee is meeting in New Delhi on Friday to discuss a long list of important issues. These include plans to host the Futsal Asian Cup as well as the FIFA Congress in 2024. AIFF Executive Committee will also decide whether to introduce a minimum wage for players and start an institutional league with PSU teams. “These are all decisions for the Executive Committee to make,” said AIFF Secretary General Shaji Prabhakaran.
The FIFA Congress is an annual meeting of around 200 member associations of FIFA, the organization responsible for overseeing world football. Representatives from more than 200 FIFA member associations attended the 73rd edition, held in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. I could hold the next edition in India for the first time.”
The AIFF expects to bid to host the 2024 AFC Asian Futsal Cup Finals and FIFA Congress. The tournament is there every two years and all member associations have already received the rules for next year’s competition. The Executive Committee of AIFF will discuss several issues during its meeting, including the minimum wage for women footballers and an institutional league with public company teams (PSU).
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Prabhakaran has been a long-time pusher and is also in charge of FIFA development. PSU teams like Air India, HAL, ONGC, and SBT have been part of the National Football League and even the I-League. Each season, the federation hosts the Indian Women’s League (IWL) and the Senior National Championship, but there has been no pay structure like that of the men.
There are no minimum wages, for women footballers. They are playing as amateurs. Women’s football has experienced rapid growth around the world in recent years, with viewer numbers rising and World Cup attendance records set. So, the need is there to fix up their minimum wages to improve their economic development. The AIFF agreed to a lucrative new trade deal in 2010 that included the launch of a new professional league (Indian Super League) in 2014. During the new PSU phasing out, many footballers faced unemployment due to budget cuts by PSU.
During the Executive Committee meeting, other issues will also be discussed, such as the creation of a new core program, the proposal to establish a separate professional judge’s organization, the finalization of the AIFF annual budget for 2023-2024, the “Accreditation of the Academy and the proposal, among others set up a monitoring committee.
