ITANAGAR, 10 Nov: FIFA president Gianni Infantino is all set to visit Arunachal Pradesh in March next year to attend the Santosh Trophy final, announced AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey during an executive committee meeting in New Delhi on Thursday.
The AIFF president informed also that the National Football Championship, which will be held in Arunachal, will be known as FIFA Santosh Trophy.
“I am happy to announce that, after having discussions with FIFA, the Santosh Trophy will now be known as the FIFA Santosh Trophy.
This entails that a team of FIFA officials will come to have a meeting with Arunachal Pradesh officials on the conduct of the tournament,” Chaubey said.
The FIFA president is expected to visit the state on 9 or 10 March, he said.
Earlier this year, the Arunachal Pradesh Football Association (APFA), under the guidance of Chief Minister Pema Khandu, had invited Infantino to visit Arunachal to attend the final match of the Santosh Trophy.
Khandu, who is also the APFA president, thanked Infantino for accepting the invitation and Chaubey for his constant support which made the FIFA president’s proposed visit possible.
Meanwhile, AIFF secretary-general Satyanarayan M on Friday launched the website of the APFA in New Delhi.
Informing this, APFA secretary Kipa Ajay termed it “a new development under the presidency of Khandu.”
“In the new website, people will get all the day-to-day activities of APFA. Also, it will allow us to reach more people and spread football in the state,” Ajay told this daily.
