New Delhi, June 27 (Inditop.com) India coach Harjinder Singh Saturday blasted the All India Football Federation (AIFF) for the national women’s team not figuring in the FIFA rankings while the federation secretary-general Alberto Colaco blames it on abysmal standard.
India is among the 16 countries dropped from the FIFA women’s rankings for not playing international matches in the last 18 months.
While Harjinder asks how can a team be assessed when it has not played even a single international game, Colaco talks of making a fresh beginning right at the junior level instead of wasting time on seniors.
“The AIFF is responsible for the decline of the women’s team. They have neglected women’s football because they feel there is no future in it. The national team hasn’t played a single international game in the last 18 months. And if the national team is not playing how do you expect young girls to take to the game,” Harjinder, a former India international, told IANS.
Harjinder wants to know where is the money allocated by FIFA for women’s football going since 15 percent of the annual grant of $250,000 given to India should be spent on that head.
“AIFF is not interested in running women’s football. They are only supporting the men’s team and they are spending a huge amount for their preparation for the Asian Cup,” Harjinder said.
Colaco, however, refuted the allegations, saying the federation is concentrating on the junior programme.
“For the time being we have decided to concentrate on under-16 and under-14 teams. The results in these competitions are very encouraging. We hope to take part in a women’s football tournament that Bangladesh is planning to hold later this year,” he said.
Colaco also said the AIFF has spent over Rs.12 millions in the 2008-09 season on the under-13, u-16, u-17 and u-19 teams.
“The amount that we have spent on women’s football last year works out to much more the 15 percent of the annual grant that we get from the FIFA. The only problem is that we were not getting results from the senior team so we decided to concentrate on junior teams and at the grassroots level,” he said.
But Harjinder said that the national team had a good future and in March they were ranked 50th among 109 countries.
“The women’s team was ranked better than the men. But the women team gets no support from the federation. The AIFF gives five-star facilities for the men’s team and nothing for the women. The AIFF has grand plans for the men’s team for the Asian Cup while the women’s team will not participate in qualifiers for the Asian Championship,” he said.
Colaco informed that this is the first time the women’s team is not participating in the Asian qualifiers.
“We are not participating because we have no chance of qualifying for the main round. And even if we make the final round, we won’t be able to get beyond the group stage,” he said.
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