PANJIM: ‘GREAT’, this stadium is really huge and will be very useful for Indian Futsal in future, said Asian Football Confederation’s Director of Futsal and Beach Soccer Ali Targholizadeh after inspecting Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium, Taleigao Plateau, on Thursday.
Ali is in India to check the indoor facilities of the stadiums in Mumbai and Goa, so as to organise futsal tournaments not only domestic or national but also international level, which would help in developing the sport in the country.
“There are good facilities in Mumbai and Goa, which is a great opportunity for the country for hosting the big events. Many countries from Europe are looking to come to Asia and contribute in development of the sport and I hope that one day some tournaments will also be held at these venues”.
“The best players are now coming from background of futsal and the sport is also used as the big tool in developing football in the country,” he said.
AFC and AIFF have joined hands to develop futsal in India and Ali hopes that with this new initiative both the federations will plan a bright future for the sport, which will be a step by step process.
“Being a big nation, India is playing a very big role in futsal and with this opportunity the nation will be able to host international tournaments in future. I hope the country will one day become strong powerhouse of futsal not only in Asia but in the world,” he said.
AIFF Technical Director Savio Medeira from Goa informed that the first step for the federation is coaches.
“We don’t have coaches in futsal and if you don’t have coaches it is not correct to start a competition. When we look at licensing criteria we tell the clubs that there has to be certain qualifications for clubs to coach. So if we start it in a wrong way then it is not correct,” he said.
“There are different levels of coaching namely level 1, 2 and 3, out of which only level 1 course has held in India in 2011 which was attended by a few coaches as there was no futsal tournaments in the country. The AIFF has already requested the AFC to start the courses,” he added.
“It is a long process and this is just the first step wherein we have made an outline to show AFC how many suitable venues are there in India. We will also look at how best the AIFF can coordinate with the different States because without the help from the States nothing is possible,” Savio opined. “Since AIFF is trying to take over futsal, may be it will be a merger or all the federations need to come under one umbrella,” he concluded.
GFA President Elvis Gomes informed, “We are very positive about this development and since Savio is in the forefront we are obliged to give any assistance to AIFF.”
