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New Delhi: The first-of-its-kind FIFA Women\u2019s Regional Development Seminar and India Development Workshop kicked off in the Capital on Monday (December 15, 2014).<\/p>\nNew Delhi: The first-of-its-kind FIFA Women\u2019s Regional Development Seminar and India Development Workshop kicked off in the Capital on Monday (December 15, 2014).<\/p>\n
Besides a total of 100 participants including foreign delegates from 11 Countries, AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das, AIFF Senior Vice President Subrata Dutta, Dr. Shaji Prabhakaran, FIFA Regional Development Officer for South and Central Asia were also present on the day.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, Moya Todd, Vice-president of the Asian Football Confederation and a co-opted member of FIFA\u2019s Executive Committee; Heike Ulrich, Deputy Director, German FA, Head of Women’s Football at the German Football Association; and Hesterine de Reus, former Dutch footballer who recently worked as head Coach of the Australian Women\u2019s Team and Ms. Monika Staab, FIFA Technical Expert consultant for Women\u2019s Football.<\/p>\n
AIFF President Praful Patel in his message said: \u201cI am extremely happy that the FIFA Women\u2019s Regional Development Seminar is taking place from December 15 to 17 2014 in Delhi for the member associations of South and Central Asia.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWomen\u2019s football is of key importance in the development of Football all over the World and in India. We have given special focus to the development of women\u2019s game by including it as a special strategic goal in our Strategic Plan 2014-2017, which was launched by the Secretary General of FIFA.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dutta, AIFF Senior Vice President added: \u201cWe are proud to host the first ever dedicated Seminar for Women in Asia.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a perfect opportunity for all stakeholders to make senior endeavours to improve Women\u2019s Football. At AIFF, we have included development of Women\u2019s Football as an important goal in our Strategic Plan and now have a dedicated development team working on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI strongly believe that with concerted efforts and more such knowledge gain from FIFA our girls have a realistic chance of playing the World Cup in the near future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Echoing the senior vice president, Mr. Das said: \u201cWe have every intent to develop women\u2019s football and it is a very important part of our four year strategic plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cI firmly believe women\u2019s team has a much better chance of playing the World Cup.\u201d <\/p>\n
Dr. Prabhakaran reiterated: \u201cIt\u2019s wonderful to have a seminar for women in India. I wish all of you present here all the very best and hope that you go back enriched, making women\u2019s football livelier.\u201d <\/p>\n
Earlier, the day began with a session all the aforementioned on \u2018Women\u2019s Football Development and Challenges Today.\u2019<\/p>\n
Dodd, who is one of the three Female Executive Committee members at FIFA, pointed out the areas to improve such as building on the 50% Women Playing population, increasing the number of Women Referees, having more Grassroots Programmes for Women.<\/p>\n
The Australian stressed on the importance of having a well established Women\u2019s League which is the touchstone to spreading the game across length and breadth of every Member Association.<\/p>\n
\u201cA League is a must and as part of every Federation we should ensure a proper Women\u2019s League is in place with Youth Development and Grassroots aligned with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abreast about India\u2019s plan to work out a sustainable format for the first-ever Women\u2019s League to take place, Todd ensured full assistance from FIFA and AFC.<\/p>\n
Taking stalk of India\u2019s third consecutive SAFF Championship triumph, Todd later told www.the-aiff.com that, \u201cSAFF win can be taken as a stepping step towards the rise of women\u2019s football in India. Now it\u2019s time to take the next step,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Heike Ulrich, who besides being with German FA was also at the helm of affairs for the 2011 Women\u2019s World Cup gave a very relevant example of how women\u2019s football is on the rise in terms of popularity.<\/p>\n
\u201cEngland played Germany in a friendly last month (November 23) at Wembley and it drew record attendance (45,619). What was most encouraging was the men\u2019s match against Norway two months earlier had fewer people turning up (40,181), and mind you these English footballers are mega stars.<\/p>\n
So there is audience for women\u2019s football and thus sponsors too,\u201d<\/p>\n
Staab, who was the observer in the recently concluded SAFF Championship in Pakistan were India came up trumps by a country mile, opined that the girls are going in the right direction, and with proper guidance realising the \u2018biggest dream\u2019 won\u2019t be far way.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have always maintained the women have a much better chance of playing the World Cup than their men counterparts. The way they have been playing in the SAFF Championships is inspiring and it\u2019s time these performances are taken to the next level. The platform needs to be provided.\u201d<\/p>\n
Followed by the opening session, FIFA Women\u2019s Football Development Senior Manager Mayi Cruz Blanco shed light on the FIFA Women\u2019s Task force, in vogue since 2011 and the Women\u2019s football structure at FIFA.<\/p>\n
Julie Teo, from AFC, talked about the Women\u2019s Assistance Programme (WAP), which has been AFC\u2019s development programme since July 2013.<\/p>\n
Post lunch, a session was conducted on Governance, Strategy, and Planning by Todd, while Mr. Das presented India\u2019s strategic plan for women\u2019s football development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New Delhi: The first-of-its-kind FIFA Women\u2019s Regional Development Seminar and India Development Workshop kicked off in the Capital on Monday (December 15, 2014).<\/p>\n
Besides a total of 100 participants including foreign delegates from 11 Countries, AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das, AIFF Senior Vice President Subrata Dutta, Dr. Shaji Prabhakaran, FIFA Regional Development Officer for South and Central Asia were also present on the day.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, Moya Todd, Vice-president of the Asian Football Confederation and a co-opted member of FIFA\u2019s Executive Committee; Heike Ulrich, Deputy Director, German FA, Head of Women’s Football at the German Football Association; and Hesterine de Reus, former Dutch footballer who recently worked as head Coach of the Australian Women\u2019s Team and Ms. Monika Staab, FIFA Technical Expert consultant for Women\u2019s Football.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20942,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football-football"],"yoast_head":"\n