AIFF okays budget of ₹134 crore

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) approved a budget of ₹134 crore for 2023-24. It accepted all five bids for this season’s I-League, making it a 17-team competition with teams from Varanasi and Ambala, and decided to resume the Federation Cup.

Also decided at an executive committee meeting in Bengaluru on Monday, one day prior to the annual general meeting and the first under president Kalyan Chaubey, was the appointment of Satyanarayan M as deputy secretary general. Satyanarayan is the general secretary of the Karnataka State Football Association.

AIFF’s budget for 2022-23 was around ₹87 crore, said an AIFF official over the phone from Bengaluru. Not authorised to speak to the media, the official requested anonymity. AIFF gets ₹50 crore from commercial partners Football Sports Development Limited and is expecting ₹25 crore from the central government, the official said. “With some state governments helping us and FIFA’s annual grants, we are confident of meeting the shortfall.”

The executive committee also approved a development grant of ₹24 lakh to each state and a project for football schools for children aged 6-12. The AIFF can charge a fee for the licence, the committee decided. AIFF also decided to appoint Deloitte for internal audits.

“By naming a reputed company for internal audit (there has to be one every month, as per AIFF rules), the federation is showing it is serious about transparency in financial dealings. This is an idea of the core committee,” said the AIFF official.

Formed last month after members pointed out a spike in expenses, included but not restricted to hiring staff, AIFF’s core committee is supposed to monitor recruitment, procurement, tenders and budget and financials. The committee met on Monday morning ahead of the executive committee meeting.

The five entities accepted for corporate entry to the I-League are: YMS Finance Pvt Ltd (Varanasi), Namdhari Seeds Pvt Ltd (Bhaini Sahib Village, Punjab), Nimida United Sports Development Pvt Ltd (Bengaluru), Concatenate Advest Advisory Pvt Ltd (Delhi), and Bunkerhill Pvt Ltd (Ambala, Haryana).