The Union Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Mansukh Mandaviya, after a meeting with the All India Football Federation (AIFF) top brass on Thursday, has assured the Federation of all possible support for the development of football in India. 

Mandaviya however has urged the AIFF president to submit an elaborate and organized plan so that India’s men’s football team can reach below 50 in the Fifa ranking in the next 10 years. He said, “An elaborate plan has to be chalked out and put in place for execution so that India can reach a FIFA ranking below 50 in the next ten years. India boasts one of the largest pools of young talent globally. The focus should be on grassroots, talent identification. They should be nurtured along with coach development which will be pivotal for the sports growth.” 

Mandaviya pointed out. He added, "The Government is committed to providing comprehensive support for sports development in India. Initiatives like new training centers and partnerships with international bodies will drive progress."

However, the AIFF President revealed that the AIFF has proposed to have four more regional academies with the same technical support from FIFA. He also added that the AIFF has presented a detailed plan to the Sports Minister.

Chaubey described, "Presently in India, there are 25 fully professional clubs in the ISL and the I-League. In addition to that, there are 80 AIFF-accredited academies, all these teams have under-13 age group category teams, The details have been presented to the ministry.”