Praful Patel Biography

All India Football Federation’s (AIFF) U-14 Academy Boys has given a tough competition to the Father Angels U-17 team. The junior academy beat the senior team by 1-0. The first half goal was given by Abhijit Sarkar at the Chowgule’s Sports Ground in Goa. Abhijit drove in a powerful shot from a tight angle to leave rival goalkeeper with no chance of a save in the 26th minute of the 60 minute tie.

The possible FIFA U-17 World Cup selected boys dominated the proceedings from start to end matching their older counterparts. In the other match of the day, Group – B U-14 Academy boys played out a goalless draw against a different bunch of the same opponents in the truncated match. Although the first half didn’t give any goals, the boys created gilt edged chances; the restart was stopped due to torrential rainfall and bad weather conditions. The match could not be continued further. The colts had displayed a brilliant 4-1 and 9-0 wins in respectively in their opening matches of the new season. 

AIFF is constantly motivating the players to learn the best skills, techniques and practices as they head gradually towards U-17 FIFA World Cup, to be held in 2017. This is the first international event to be hosted in India. AIFF, with Praful Patel contributions, has led a success story which has fetched to host such a prestigious event. The authorities are pacing up to develop the best organisational infrastructure for the Indian teams. In a meeting with Sepp Blatter, FIFA President, AIFF President Praful Patel discussed various aspects of Club World Cup along with other top officials. The FIFA President speaks highly regarding Indian Football as he thinks that the right kind of push would propel the ‘sleeping giant’ to gain international success.