New secretary general of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) M. Satyanarayan wants a ‘proper domestic calendar’ should be built up. Satyanarayan who was working as the AIFF’s Deputy General Secretary has been chosen as the Federation's secretary general after Shaji Prabhakaran was terminated from the chair on 7th November. 

Before the AIFF's scheduled executive committee meeting on Thursday in New Delhi, Satyanarayan, when asked about the areas he wants to work in considering the development of Indian football in the near future, revealed, "We must have to look after our men's and women's national teams so that they can gain better results in the international tournaments. Interacting with Fifa and AFC on different issues related to our international engagements is another important subject. Looking forward to the future of Indian football the youth and grass route development programs are also important issues. 

But along with these two, I feel building a proper domestic calendar should be equally important.” 

Satyanarayan explained divulging that Indian football is going to have a lot of domestic competitions in the coming season. "Due to Covid-19 and the pandemic sub-junior and junior boys' and girls' competitions could not be conducted for two seasons. Those events will take place now including the youth football leagues. Then I-League second and third divisions are scheduled to be hosted. The Santosh trophy Zonal round matches and the final will have to be staged. The women's IWL and national championships are there. Along with these competitions tournaments like ISL and Super Cup are there. So unless we make a proper calendar it will be difficult for us to complete the season perfectly," said the new secretary general.

The country's top clubs did not release most of their footballers who were called up in the senior national team and under-21 national squad before the under-23 Asian Cup qualifiers. 

But Satyanarayan refused to agree with the point that the controversy was created due to the lack of a calendar only. He explained, "The clubs invest for the footballers. They will naturally try to save their top footballers. They are dependent on their sponsors. They look for the qualification in the AFC Club championships. They cannot be blamed exactly.” 

Rather Satyanarayan, while clearing up the need to make a proper calendar stated, "Super Cup was held in Kerala last season in April-May amidst the scorching heat. We must make the calendar to slot the competition by April in the coming season and due to upcoming elections, we may not even get grounds according to our wish. So we must have proper plans before scheduling the competitions." 

However, commenting on the clubs and the country, the new AIFF secretary added, “The country’s top clubs recruit more than 30 footballers on average including the potential junior footballers. These junior footballers hardly get a chance to take part in the premier competitions like ISL. The clubs should think of releasing them for the country.”