The All India Football Federation was honoured with the AFC President’s Recognition Bronze medal for its efforts in the grassroots level development of the sport in the country.
It was AIFF’s second bronze medal in the category, having earned the same recognition back in 2014.
“It is a good achievement for Indian football, and with this recognition from AFC, we are further motivated to do our best to impact the development of grassroots football in India,” AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey said after receiving the medal at the AFC Awards ceremony in Doha, Qatar, Tuesday night.
The introduction of several grassroots football development plans, like the AIFF Blue Cubs programme, Blue Cubs coaching courses, Blue Cubs leagues, Blue Cubs football schools, AIFF Grassroots Awards, AIFF Institutional League for non-professional entities and AIFF Project Diamond have helped Indian football to a great extent, the national federation said in a release.
AIFF Secretary General Shaji Prabhakaran lauded its “flagship grassroots initiative” for changing the landscape of India’s grassroots football level.
his award by the AFC for our grassroots work reflects that our flagship grassroots initiative ‘Blue Cubs’ will transform India’s grassroots landscape in the next few years,” he said.
“We have a lot of work ahead to engage more children in the beautiful game, and our goal should be to win the AFC Diamond Category Award with our exceptional work in grassroots football.”
