The All India Football Federation (AIFF) will decide in a meeting on Saturday if the Capital retains its right to host the Federation Cup in December. Contrary to media reports that the tournament had been shifted to Kolkata owing to poor facilities in Delhi, AIFF general secretary Alberto Colaco said the final decision was yet to be taken. “We are going to decide the final venue after tomorrow’s meeting,” Colaco told the Sportline.Meanwhile, the Delhi Soccer Association said it was all prepared to organise the event. “The federation (AIFF) hasn’t finalised anything yet. They are going to meet on November 22 to finalise the venue. If they want, we are ready to host it,” DSA secretary NK Bhatia said. Bhatia said the reports published in various newspapers were based on an AIFF letter that was sent to the Haryana and Delhi federations as a reminder. “In that letter, the IFA (Bengal Federation) was mentioned as a standbye and we had requested for some more time from the federation. We had a meeting on the decision on November 3. The newspapers drew a wrong conclusion,” Bhatia said.Hurdles clearedBhatia admitted there were a few hurdles in the smooth conduct of the tournament, however, they had all been cleared. “Availability of hotels and practice grounds for the sixteen participating teams were areas of concern for us, especially in the month of December. But we have sorted out everything. The Air Force ground, Centre for Vocational Studies ground and the Jesus and Mary grounds will be made available for practice and the hotels too would be available as the tournament ends before Christmas. We have assured the AIFF about these concerns,” Bhatia added.If Delhi indeed gets the green signal from the AIFF, the patchy condition of the Ambedkar Stadium turf would give the DSA another headache. Bhatia, however, stressed that once confirmed, it wouldn’t take too long to remove those patches. “This happened after the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) hosted the Children’s Day function at the Ambedkar Stadium. I have talked to some experts and they have assured that it’ll take just couple of days’ time. Once we get the confirmation, we will do it,” Bhatia said.The Federation Cup is slated from December 4-22, which means the DSA Senior division league might get postponed further. “We don’t know the format yet. Whatever dates suit us we will follow,” added Bhatia.
