By IANS,
New Delhi : An ailing Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi was Tuesday unanimously re- elected as the president of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) while paid secretary-general Alberto Colaco will stay in office for some more time, though his contract ends Dec 31.
Announcing the list of new office-bearers after the Annual General Meeting (AGM) here at Football House Tuesday, acting president Praful Patel said the decision to re-elect Dasmunsi was unanimous and as for Colaco, he said he would take a call on his continuance in due course. India captain Bhaichung Bhutia was also adjudged as the player of the year.
During the AGM, an emergency committee comprising the president, five vice-presidents and the treasurer was also formed to decide on the policies of the federation. The committee was formed after Patel felt that since the executive committee can’t meet often the emergency committee should meet on a regular basis to keep a check on the functioning of the national body.
During his first interaction with the press, Patel, who is also a cabinet minister, made it clear that he is looking for a longer run and his priorities will be to set things in motion.
“Indian football has come up in the last few years. But we still lag behind in international standards. There is huge room for improvement. I will also try to bring in more corporate partners,” he said.
Asked what he thought about Coalco’s performance, Patel said: “I don’t want to answer this now. I would prefer to do it some time down the line. The fact is that football has not percolated to other states and it is still dominated in some pockets only.”
On the national academy, which is in limbo, Patel said: “I have spoken with the Bharati Group (partners of the academy) and also with the local authorities in Goa and hope to resolve the issue next month.”
During the AGM a draft calendar was also submitted. According to it, the second phase of the I-League will start from Jan 23; second division I-League will be held in February; national team will play a friendly against Hong Kong, Jan 14; next edition of the I-League will start from September and the Federation Cup will be in December.
It was also decided that the Santosh Trophy will be held in April-May but the host will be decided through a bidding in January.
The list of office bearers:
President: Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi
Vice-presidents: Subrata Dutta (east), Praful Patel (west), Vinod Sharma (north), A.R. Khaleel (south) and Ankur Dutta (north east)
Treasurer: Hardev Jadeja (Gujarat)
Executive members: M.A. Alam (Orissa), Tempo Bhutia (Sikkim), Joaquim Alemao (Goa), A.R. Dev (Madhya Pradesh), Inder Singh (Punjab), Sunil Bharadwaj (Haryana), C.R. Vishwanathan (Tamil Nadu), K.M.I. Mather (Kerala), Ranjit Roy (Manipur) and Larsing Sawyan (Meghalaya), Rakesh Yadav (Railways)