Sport - Football

Fewer foreign players in domestic football

NEW DELHI: The number of foreign players in domestic football will be reduced in the near future as the All India Football Federation is contemplating this to promote local talent.

At present, each team can register three foreign players and include all of them in its squad in a match. “We will take a decision by the end of this year to reduce the number of foreigners. This will start from next I-League. Coach Bob Houghton is also in favour of this,” the AIFF President, Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi said here on Monday.

He said India’s preparation for the Asian Cup in Doha in 2011 would get top priority. “After Houghton comes back from vacation, we will thrash out a blueprint of how to go about the Asian Cup. We will need at least Rs.2.5 crore per year, the bottom-line is we have to do well in the Asian Cup,” he said while calling for more corporate support for the game.

Dasmunshi praised the India under-16 team that would take part in the AFC Asian Championship in Uzbekistan next month. The top four sides will make it to the under-16 World Cup.

“The team did very well in the qualifiers. They had toured the United States and will leave for Manchester for training. I have high hopes,” he said.

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