New Delhi, April 30 (Inditop.com) In a major set-back for Indian football, automobile giants Mahindras Friday announced it was shutting down Mumbai-based 48-year-old football club, Mahindra United.

Mahindra United’s president Alan Durante told Inditop from Mumbai that the company has decided to close the football club and concentrate on school soccer.

“We realised that we were not contributing much to development of the game in the country by running a football club. In India we have just 300-400 players, who get a chance to play club football at the top level. We will work at grassroots level to increase the pool by investing in school soccer,” Durante told Inditop.

West India Football Association (WIFA) secretary Wali Mohammed said that he would meet Mahindra’s managing director Anand Mahindra and convince him to change the decision.