The Central government has cut funding to the All India Football Federation for the upcoming—an 85 per cent drop since 2019-20—citing poor performance and low global ranking of the national teams.
The Indian Express reports that under the Annual Calendar Training and Competitions (ACTC), grants by the government to the football body was slashed from Rs 30 crore in 2019-20 to Rs 10 crore in 2020-21 and is now only Rs 5 crore for the current financial year.
“Considering the poor performance of the Indian football team, AIFF was advised to strictly focus on the development of grassroot-level talent,” sports secretary Sujata Chaturvedi told the paper.
At the ACTC meeting, which took place on March 29, AIFF officials had presented its plans for the year and had requested for a budget thrice the amount that was eventually sanctioned. It was decided that the funding would be reassessed based on performance at the Asian Games in September.
This revelation comes as a surprise, considering the budget for other major sports. While athletics has Rs 30 crore sanctioned for the year, badminton, boxing, hockey and shooting all get Rs 24 crore each. The other sports with more funding than football are archery (Rs 15.85 crore), weightlifting (Rs 11 crore), tennis (Rs 5.5 crore), and even yachting (Rs 5.2 crore).
The men's national team has been underwhelming under coach Igor Stimac, performing badly at the 2022 World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup joint qualifying tournament, losing to lower-ranked teams and lacking an identity or plan.
India is currently ranked 106th in the world.
Stimac reportedly earns Rs 2.39 crore a year from the AIFF as salary, which would now be nearly half the proposed annual budget.
“Despite the differential treatment by the government, the AIFF has not compromised on any activity for the senior and junior teams, both men and women,” an official told Express. “However, it is surprising that a mass sport like football gets less funding compared to other sports that are nowhere close in terms of participation numbers and competitiveness.”
