The Goan Network
Panaji
With national coach Stephen Constantine's contract with the All India Football Federation set to expire in five months time, the national federation is yet to take a call on the same.
At the executive committee meeting of the AIFF held in Goa on Monday, president Praful Patel stated that talks to decide the future on India coach Stephen Constantine haven’t yet been initiated. “It’s too early to make a decision on that. We have to speak to the concerned parties first. There is still time to decide that and there are other things we also need to look at,” was Patel’s answer when on questioned on Constantine’s future.Whether Constantine, whose contract expires in February, would still be in-charge of the team come next year remains to be seen after having groomed several youngsters during his tenure.
"Twenty-four Asian teams will compete in the third round of Asian Cup qualifiers from March 2017 from which 12 can make the cut for the continental championships in 2019 to be held in Dubai," Patel disclosed.
Meanwhile, the AIFF Executive Committee was apprised about the national team by Constantine on Monday evening, that was followed by Nicolai Adam providing updates about the U-17 World Cup Team.
The Committee congratulated Bengaluru FC for their performance in the ongoing AFC Cup and wished them luck for the semifinals where they play Malaysia’s Johor Darul Tazim. Sunando Dhar briefed the Committee about Hero I-League updates which kicks-off on January 7, 2017. Keeping in mind the heartwarming performance of Aizawl FC in the last edition, the Committee unanimously decided to give them a ticket to play in the 2016-17 edition.
The ‘ISL League Rules 2016’ were also approved by the Committee.
The overseas online scouting portal launched by AIFF, the first of its kind in India was appreciated by the Committee. Abhishek Yadav further took the Committee a tour on the portal scouting.the-aiff.com. The new dates for the Santosh Trophy were finalized and the final round will finish by January 10, 2017.
AIFF’s Annual General Body Meeting for the elections will be held in December 2016 while the Special General Body Meeting will be held in January 2017.
Among those who attended the AIFF meeting were -AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das; Vice Presidents Subrata Dutta, KMI Mather, Shrinivas Dempo, Subhash Chopra; and all other members except ZA Thakur, Vice-President Larsing Ming and members Jesiah Villavarayar, Sara Pilot. National Coach Stephen Constantine, AIFF Technical Director Scott O’Donnell, Baichung Bhutia, Chairman, Technical Committee, Nicolai Adam, Head Coach, India U-17 World Cup Team, AIFF, Abhishek Yadav, Director, Scouting, AIFF, Javier Ceppi, Tournament Director, FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017 and Joy Bhattacharya, Project Director, FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017 were also present on the occasion. Chirag Tanna and Rochak Langer representing FSDL attended the meeting.
