AIFF President Kalyan Chaubey and Secretary General Dr Shaji Prabhakaran on Thursday called on Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to discuss Bhubaneswar's preparation as one of the locations for the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup India 2022.
The two AIFF officials also met with Sports Odisha Secretary Vineel Krishna, to discuss the infrastructural facilities that the city of Bhubaneswar will be providing to the teams that will participate in the World Cup. They discussed at length the readiness of Bhubaneswar as one of the three venues for the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup and thanked the Chief Minister and Vineel Krishna for their continued support of Indian Football.
"Bhubaneswar looks well prepared to host the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup India 2022. Extremely happy to visit our U-17 Women's Team at Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) campus and interact with the girls and coaching staff who are preparing for a historic appearance in the World Cup," Chaubey said.
"Meeting Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik gave me the opportunity to thank him personally for the great support his government is extending to football in general, and for hosting the U-17 Women's World Cup in particular," he further said.
Prabhakaran said the visit to Odisha has given an opportunity to interact with all stakeholders of football in Odisha. "Our endeavour would be to further strengthen and broad-base our partnership between the Government of Odisha and the AIFF".
Chaubey and Prabhakaran also received felicitation from the Football Association of Odisha (FAO) upon their arrival in Cuttack, for which the duo was extremely thankful.
"It was an extremely productive visit to Odisha and I would like to express my appreciation to the office bearers of FAO for facilitating us in Cuttack and providing an opportunity to meet with all stakeholders," said the AIFF President.
"FAO is working actively in developing football and through FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup. There is a great opportunity for Odisha to grow in stature as one of the prominent destinations for women's football in India," Prabhakaran said.
The AIFF President and Secretary General were also felicitated by KIIT Founder Achyuta Samanta, a release said.
The Chief Minister, Kalyan Chaubey, Shaji Prabhakaran, Vineel Krishna, and Achyuta Samanta also met the India U-17 Women's Team players and officials, in order to inspire them ahead of their big campaign.
(With inputs from ANI)
