FIFA’s forward pass to relief game in India

Responding positively to the All India Football Federation’s request for exhibition matches to raise funds for tsunami victims, world football’s governing body FIFA today announced that they would organise in Delhi and Kolkata in the first week of February. Confirming this, AIFF president Priya Ranjan Das Munshi today said that FIFA has also promised several top stars for the matches.

However, no names of these ‘top stars’ have been announced yet, because as AIFF secretary Albert Colaco confirmed to The Indian Express, ‘‘FIFA prefers not to commit anything before everything is guaranteed. We know there will be some current and some former players, but FIFA will give us the names only after finding out who is available and who is not.’’

Das Munshi, meanwhile, also said, ‘‘The two matches will be played either between a FIFA XI and an Asia XI, or between two sides with an assortment of players. We have requested FIFA to include two or three Indian players in the teams.’’ About the delay in hosting the game, Das Munshi said: ‘‘Since most of the players are busy in the professional leagues in Europe, we have to wait for a month.’’

Meanwhile, according to a release posted on the FIFA website, the FIFA Emergency Committee has decided to make US$ 2 mn available. The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has also pledged US$ 1 mn.