Indian football gets new leader with focus on quality

Priority will be improvement in quality of football: AIFF's new secretary general

All India Football Federation's (AIFF) newly-appointed secretary general Anil Kumar on Monday said his top priority is to "improve the quality" of football in the country while involving each and every stakeholder, such as the FIFA, clubs, state associations and governments.

An experienced sports administrator, Anil Kumar was welcomed at the Football House by the AIFF treasurer Kipa Ajay in the presence of deputy secretary general M Satyanarayan.

"So, the priority will be the improvement of quality of football," Anil Kumar, who took charge on Monday, told the AIFF website.

"I don't know how long we will take to make it at that level. But still we are starting with the hope that we can do something better. We will not give up until we succeed."

"And along with you, all Indian football fans, we will continue to work across India with those who love football, who support Indian football," he added.

Anil Kumar felt when the quality improves, the spectator turnout and viewership will improve, and the money will come to all areas of football.

The newly-appointed secretary general said that though Indian football has been growing since many years, it may not have reached the expected level if one looks at the FIFA rankings.

"So, we have a huge responsibility to improve that ranking. Our focus will be to work together with all the stakeholders to improve the quality of Indian football and make it more acceptable at the international level.

"With the executive committee's direction, and along with our team at the AIFF headquarters, we will do better things to improve the system."

He said the federation will soon sit with all the clubs and investors for a discussion on the way forward, and will seek help from the state governments as well as the Centre.

"The priority is always to improve in all areas, starting from the grassroots to the top division. We will sit and plan along with the club owners and investors. We will look for possible support from AFC and FIFA to study in detail, to understand where we are actually lacking.

"We will try to seek the help of the state government as well as the government of India to do something in that aspect and also to plan a long term strategy."

"I know that this is a very big responsibility. I have been working with the Kerala Football Association for quite long and understand the various departments. We will work together as a team along with the member associations and other stakeholders of Indian football to take the game ahead in the coming days."