Now christened as the ‘FIFA Santosh Trophy’, this year’s event will be held in Arunachal Pradesh, AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey informed, adding that FIFA officials will descend to Arunachal Pradesh to meet the state officials.
The Santosh Trophy has been renamed as the FIFA Santosh Trophy on Thursday following All India Football Federation’s Executive Committee meeting in New Delhi. However, the reason for renaming the championship has not been explained.
The federation president Kalyan Chaubey apprised the Executive Committee of his detailed discussions with FIFA on the Santosh Trophy, the National Football Championship of India.
Chaubey said, “I am happy to announce that, after having discussions with FIFA, the Santosh Trophy will now be known as the FIFA Santosh Trophy. This entails that a team of FIFA officials will come to have a meeting with Arunachal Pradesh officials on the conduct of the tournament”.
We also expect the FIFA president (Gianni Infantino) to be present for the final on March 9 or 10, he added.
In the meantime, FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development and renowned coach Arsene Wenger is set to visit India later this month.
Chaubey announced that his visit would open up a new chapter in India’s youth development plans and projects.
