SAFF countries pledge to take regional football forward

Dhaka, April 11: The member nations of South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) have made a commitment to take forward the football of the subcontinent.

Officials of all seven football bodies of SAFF came up with the resolution during the 2018 SAFF Congress held at Pan Pacific Sonargaon in Bangladeshi capital Dhaka on Wednesday afternoon.

BFF President Kazi Salahuddin, who was also elected as the SAFF President for the 3rd consecutive time unopposed, said that he is looking forward to working with his new colleagues in the four upcoming years.

Kazi Salahuddin said that the goal will be to strengthen the bond among the seven associate nations to ensure better representation from the region in the AFC and FIFA competitions.

“The primary target would be the AFC Champions league,” said Kazi Salahuddin.

“I’ve enjoyed myself in the past 8 years as SAFF President and I hope to carry out my duties in the upcoming years with help from my colleagues who treat me like brothers,” he added.

Reiterating his words, AIFF President and AFC Vice President Praful Patel said that SAFF is a family of seven football loving nations who are part of a football loving fraternity.

“However, all of us need to work harder and more intensively to move up the FIFA World ranking as all the countries in this region are still lagging far behind,” said Patel.

The AIFF President also stated that the SAFF counties need to share their experiences and infrastructure to achieve their goals jointly.

Highlighting that several leagues of both men and women’s competitions have begun in India, the AIFF President hoped that more and more players from the SAFF region would play in those leagues to grow together and take the sub-continental football forward.

PFF President and AFC Executive Committee member Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat said that using the shared infrastructure of the SAFF nations, all seven countries should look to improve the football in their grassroots levels so that the quality of the senior teams improves with the progression of time.

“We need to use football as a vehicle of peace in this region and sharing our facilities to improve our young players will certainly help the cause,” said Syed Faisal Saleh.

Presidents of all the SAFF nations and FIFA representatives Mahfuza Akhter Kiron and Mong Gyu Chung were also present at the congress among other officials of the SAFF nations.

Moreover, at the Congress, all the members of the new executive committee were elected unopposed just like President Kazi Md. Salahuddin.

Vice Presidents of the new committee are Syed Khadim Ali Shah (Pakistan), Anura De Silva (Sri Lanka) and Mani Kunwar (Nepal). Uygen Wangchuk of Bhutan was elected as the treasurer.