Priority is to improve quality of Indian football, says new AIFF secretary general Anilkumar

New Delhi: The newly appointed secretary general of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) P Anilkumar took charge, here on Monday. 

Anilkumar, who is also the general secretary of the Kerala Football Association,  said that Indian football is lacking in quality and needs to be improved. 

"The priority will be the improvement of the quality of football. I don't know how long we will take to make it at that level. But still we are starting with the hope that we can do something better. We will not give up until we succeed. And along with you, all Indian football fans, we will continue to work across India with those who love football, who support Indian football," Anilkumar told aiff.com

Anilkumar was welcomed by AIFF treasurer Kipa Ajay, on behalf of AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey. Vice- president NA Haris, executive committee members AND AIFF deputy secretary general M Satyanarayan were present on the occasion.

"I know that this is a very big responsibility. I have been working with the Kerala Football Association for quite long and understand the various departments. Definitely, we will work together as a team along with the member associations and other stakeholders of Indian football to take the game ahead in the coming days,” he said.

Anilkumar said that though Indian football has been growing, it may not have reached the expected level if one looks at the FIFA rankings.

"So, we have a huge responsibility to improve that ranking. Our focus will be to work together with all the stakeholders to improve the quality of Indian football and make it more acceptable at the international level. With the executive committee's direction, and along with our team at the AIFF headquarters, we will do better things to improve the system,” he added.