AIFF President Kalyan Chaubey meets FIFA President Gianni Infantino

Infantino shared about the meet in social media

While the national team is busy preparing for their upcoming challenges in Malaysia, after the Merdeka cup loss, the AIFF President Kalyan Chaubey recently caught up with Gianni Infantino, the President of FIFA. It was the duo’s fifth meeting ever since Chaubey took over.

The two met in Mumbai, where the FIFA President came today to attend the IOC session. The President also met AIFF Secretary General Dr. Shaji Prabhakaran & Treasurer Kipa Ajay.

What happened next?

The FIFA president took to his social media and wrote about his meeting with Kalyan Chuabey in Mumbai. “It was great meeting the president of All India Football Federation Kalyan Chaubey in Mumbai today,” Infantino said.

He further went on to mention about the 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup that was held in India. Gianni also said that the duo discussed about the development of football and how the sport can reach more youngsters in India.

“We recollected India hosting the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup 2022 last October before discussing football development and how we can take our sport to more young girls and boys in this beautiful country. #FootballUnitesTheWorld,” wrote the FIFA president.

AIFF under Kalyan Chaubey

Indian Football’s scenery has changed enormously ever since the footballer turned politician turned AIFF President took over the charge from long serving President Praful Patel. Chaubey has made significant changes to the structure of the AIFF while accelerating the grassroots program to a different level.

The AIFF has brought in FIFA’s chief of Global Football Development Arsene Wenger to help Indian Football get to the next level. Wenger will help the AIFF to set up a ‘state of the art’ centralised academy along with FIFA.

AIFF has also been nominated today by the AFC for prestigious President Recognition Award (bronze category) for it's exceptional work in grass roots football.