AIFF goes big on women's football

New Delhi, April 14

The All-India Football Federation (AIFF) is making a big pitch towards enhancing the pay packages of the national women footballers. Starting next season, it will mandatory for the clubs participating in the Indian Women’s League to have at least 10 players on a professional contract worth a minimum of Rs 3.2 lakh.

The decision was taken during the AIFF’s executive committee meeting here today. Further, the AIFF has decided that the IWL will be expanded to 10 teams from the 2024-25 season. It is currently played among eight teams. Also, from the 2025-26 season, a four-tier league will be set up, and the last tier will be the state leagues across India.

The AIFF has also banned foreign players from competing in the state leagues. The federation previously stopped foreign players from participating in I-League 2.

“We felt that the Indian players were not getting enough opportunity to play so stopping foreigners is a step in that direction. We will revisit this decision after two years to see whether it has helped our players’ development,” AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey said.

Chaubey added that they will be starting an institutional league involving 10 teams, including Services and BSF, on home and away basis. The AIFF has also sought help from FIFA’s Talent Development Scheme, led by Chief of Global Football Development Arsene Wenger, for the development of elite players. A team from FIFA is scheduled to visit India in May.

Super Cup: FC Goa prevail over Gokulam

Kozhikode: FC Goa recorded their first win of the Super Cup football following a 90th minute strike by captain Iker Guarrotxena here today, keeping their semifinals prospects alive. The star forward duo of Noah Sadaoui and Guarrotxena combined to give the Gaurs all three points. FC Goa finished with 19 shots on goal but had to wait till the end to get their three points. In the second match of the day, Jamshedpur FC hammered ISL champions ATK Mohun Bagan 3-0 to climb to the top of Group C with six points from two games and seal a semifinals spot. PTI