Mumbai: Elections for FIFA council of three additional Asian Football Confederation (AFC) members will be held on September 27th in Goa. FIFA president Gianni Infantino will be in Goa to attend AFC Extraordinary Congress on the same day.
Zhang Jian (China PR), Ali Kafashian Naeni (Islamic Republic of Iran), Mong Gyu Chung (Korea Republic), Saudi A Aziz Al-Mohannadi (Qatar) and Zainudin Nordin (Singapore) will be the contestants contesting for the elections of FIFA membership.
Moya Dodd (Australia), Mahfuza Ahkter (Bangladesh) and Han UN Gyong (DPR Korea) will be contesting for one female seat for council membership.
In its reformation process, FIFA will disband its 24 member executive committee to be replaced by 37 members council.
Infantino was earlier expected to spend atleast 48 hours in India but later plans were changed.
Infantino, who will arrive in Goa on September 27th for the AFC Extraordinary Congress, is expected to return to the FIFA headquarters in Switzerland the same day, an All India Football Federation (AIFF) official said. Gianni will have a busy schedule in his visit. Even though his agenda in Goa is still not decided. The fate of a planned seminar on Indian football remains uncertain.
Although, Infantino will be interacting with delegates and release the logo of under-17 World Cup and the new logo of AIFF. The under-17 World Cup will be the biggest footballing event to be held in the sub-continent.
AIFF to change completely, albeit the logo
A draft proposal for changes was put in front of the members of AIFF in July. This draft proposal would change Indian club systems for good. It was put forward to the Executive Committee for the members along with the comments received from I-League and 2nd Division Clubs.
The AIFF will change completely along with its logo. This logo will be unveiled by FIFA President himself (Earlier mentioned). There have been introduced many changes in the under 18 league too. The U18 I-League will have 40 teams next season from 28 in season 2015-16. The U16 I-League will too have 11 teams more, taking the tally up to 50. The junior most addition to the I-League will kick off from ‘17-‘18 season onwards.
The arrival of FIFA president has definitely given an impetus to the sport in the country.