FIFA sanctions US$ 35k for WIFA Strategic Plan project

Mumbai, October 27: FIFA, the world governing body for football, has sanctioned a fund of US$ 35,000 (approx Rs 24 lakhs) towards WIFA’s Strategic Plan project, under the FIFA-AIFF State Development Project.

This was revealed by WIFA CEO Henry Menezes. “WIFA has been selected for the FIFA-AIFF State Development Project and FIFA has allotted an amount of US$ 35,000 for our WIFA Strategic Plan project. The entire cost would be higher, but our marketing team would take care of the extra expenses,” he mentioned.

WIFA (Maharashtra), which is among five states in India selected for FIFA-AIFF’s pilot project, has set the ball rolling by drawing up and kick starting the WIFA Strategic Plan.

WIFA and the other states was selected for this project by FIFA headed by Dr. Shaji Prabhakaran, Regional Development Officer and Vincent Subramaniam, Technical Officer – FIFA, and Scott O Donnell, Technical Director – AIFF and Sunando Dhar, CEO I-League and Head State Development.

Initially, WIFA will implement the plan in six districts of Maharashtra, namely Mumbai, Pune, Kolhapur, Solapur, Nashik and Nagpur. These six centres, were selected based on their reports and activities.

Under this pilot project, WIFA will be conducting workshops to bring about awareness of the stakeholders on how to grow football in their respective regions.

The main aspect of this project would be on Grassroots Development for kids between 6-12 years in all six districts.

WIFA will conduct Grassroots Leaders course in order to increase the number of Grassroots Leaders in the state, Grassroots festivals, celebrate Grassroots Day (5 in the calendar year -- DFA Grassroots Day, WIFA Grassroots Day, AIFF Grassroots Day, AFC Grassroots Day, FIFA Grassroots Day) and Grassroots League (age groups, 6-8 years, 9-10 years and 11-12 years).

Another major development would be organizing the WIFA Youth (Under-14) Leagues. All the six DFAs will conduct their own Youth League and complete it by end December. A total 16 teams from the districts would qualify for the WIFA Youth League which would commence early next year. The purpose of the youth league is to bridge the gap from school football to club football.

WIFA’s other plans include a WIFA Women’s League and WIFA Champions League for top-tier clubs.

Commenting on the project, WIFA Hon. Secretary, Souter Vaz said “Our aim is to improve and popularise the game of football constantly. We thank FIFA and AIFF for recognizing our efforts and for giving us this opportunity to promote the game further.”

WIFA CEO, Henry Menezes, stated that football is very popular in Maharashtra and stressed on the importance of conducting the WIFA Youth League. “This Youth League is very important as it will help to make a transition from school to club football. After school football there a void, so to maintain continuity for the youngsters, this league comes into place. This will provide younger players a ladder to climb up towards the national team,” Menezes pointed out.

“WIFA has an excellent set-up and we are all striving hard. I am confident that this project will not only be successful, but is certain to create a big impact on football in Maharashtra,” Vaz further stated.

Under this strategic plan, FIFA-AIFF have appointed for Maharashtra a Technical Officer, Mangesh Desai (an ‘A’ License holder) and Dinesh Nair (a ‘B’ License holder) to oversee the smooth function of the project.