Match fee for men's and women's national team players on anvil, says AIFF

National team players both men and women will soon get match fees in a pathbreaking initiative if All India Football Federation AIFF is able to increase its financial resources a top official said on ThursdayA slew of initiatives are set to be announced later this month as part of roadmap for Indian football development after the new executive council under Kalyan Chaubey took charge of the AIFF in September for a fouryear tenureAIFF Secretary General Shaji Prabhakaran said the executive council will take a decision on introduction of match fee for the national team players He did not give any time frame because of the budgetary constraints of the AIFF but indicated that it could be done during the current tenureOur men and women national team players must get a fee We should not give just a token money it should be something of economic valueIf a player playing for the country is not gaining economically then why the family or community would support him or her beyond a point We will discuss this matter in the executive committee Prabhakaran said in an interview to PTIHe admitted that the current AIFF annual budget of just over Rs 100 crore will not allow match fee payment of the national team players immediately but said he is confident of increasing the financial resources of the federation to a level that will enable the implementation of the initiativeAlso readKonkona Sen Sharmas podcast retells the story of an Indian football team beating the BritishWe have started discussions with our partners how we can grow commercially We are having a dialogue with our commercial partner FSDL very openly They are very open also We are quite confident that we will create a winwin situation with them We will have a better commercial situation within this four yearsWe have appointed a director commercial last month for the first time to bring more money in the system from the market and to grow commercially We can increase our financial resources by creating value for our partners We will take help of local and global experts as well as of the governmentPrabhakaran who is the first salaried and nonelected secretary general of the AIFF said the commercial growth of the organisation is pivotal to the development of the game in the countryAIFF budget too little needs 10fold increasePrabhakaran rued that the AIFF budget is too little to fulfil the goals of the new executive council and said the target in four years is to increase it at least 10foldToday we have a budget of Rs 110 crore We cannot do anything with this We cannot even do justice to our own competitions forget international exposure grassroots development capacity building supporting member associations etcFor a country of 14 billion and football as the second most popular sport this budget is nothing Increasing our budget 10 times in the next four years is our priorityIf the roadmap we are creating is not adequately funded and commercial success is not achieved we will be as good as it is today We need to grow 500 to 1000 per cent in four yearsHe said under the current AIFF budget which is Rs 16 crore deficit the national team has an allocation of just Rs 45 croreWhat the Rs 4 or 5 crore for a national team will do With that money we cant go for more than two foreign competitionsAIFF foundation to be set upPrabhakaran a former Regional Development Officer for FIFA in South and Central Asia also informed that the AIFF is setting up a foundation a registered body which will reach out to the community and the societyFootball also needs to do something for the community and society at large We need to align with social projects and programmes Football can become a medium of change in the society Through this foundation we will be able to reach out to the community at the local and state levelsThe executive committee has approved to register the foundation FIFA and AFC have their own foundations Other countries have their own It will be under the AIFF but will be a specific registered entity Imminent independent people from other walks of life will be part of the Board of Directors so that there is accountabilityWe will align with non AIFF members individual members governments ministries in executing different projects of importance in the countryThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever