{"id":10784,"date":"2012-03-09T16:28:00","date_gmt":"2012-03-09T16:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/2012\/03\/there-cant-be-world-football-withou\/"},"modified":"2018-06-04T17:06:09","modified_gmt":"2018-06-04T17:06:09","slug":"there-cant-be-world-football-withou","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/there-cant-be-world-football-withou\/","title":{"rendered":"There can\u2019t be World Football without India: Blatter"},"content":{"rendered":"
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 He came, he saw, he conquered. FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter was at his witty best during his short stay in New Delhi on Friday (March 9). In an age where almost every alternate Media Interaction stays a boring one, Mr. Blatter lit up the proceedings at the ITC Maurya with his customary humour.<\/p>\n

But the visionary that he is, he insisted on \u201cIndia playing a part for the development of World Football.\u201d \u201cMy aim as the FIFA President stays to establish Football in the Continent of India,\u201d he commented, as he repeatedly stressed on India being a \u201cContinent rather than a country.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mr. Patel and Mr. Blatter in Delhi<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\nMr. Praful Patel, the President of the All India Football Federation announced that India would be making two significant bids as far as World Football is concerned. \u201cIndia are staging a serious bid to host the U-17 World Cup in 2017,\u201d he informed. \u201cApart from that, we would also bid to host the 2015 World Club Cup. Both the Tournaments would provide an excellent opportunity for our players to rub shoulders with the best of the World,\u201d he maintained.<\/div>\n
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\u201cI understand that there are challenges and limitations as well. But we will overcome all for the cause of the sport,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Mr. Blatter who met the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and the President, Mrs. Pratibha Patil during his stay in Delhi, however, didn\u2019t commit on the two Tournaments coming to India.<\/p>\n

\u201cFIFA stay a democratic setup. Both are positive developments no doubt. But it\u2019s upto the FIFA Executive Committee to decide,\u201d he opined. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have been closely following the development of football in India. The FIFA Development Office is presently based in Delhi and the setting up of the Regional and the Elite Academies are a step in the right direction,\u201d Mr. Blatter stressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had referred to India as the Sleeping Giant during my last visit to India in 2007. But I know, the giant has started to wake up,\u201d he opined.<\/p>\n

Mr. Patel added: \u201cThe two bids set a target for the AIFF and also the Government of India. We stay aware of the lack of good infrastructure at the moment. But I assure you, we will overcome all,\u201d he reiterated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Prime Minister wants to see India as one of the Premier Footballing Nations. Nothing can be more inspirational for Indian football.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Blatter summed up the mood: \u201cThere cannot be World Football without India.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Zhang Jilong, the Acting President of the Asian Football Confederation was also present on the occasion.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

 He came, he saw, he conquered. FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter was at his witty best during his short stay in New Delhi on Friday (March 9). In an age where almost every alternate Media Interaction stays a boring one, Mr. Blatter lit up the proceedings at the ITC Maurya with his customary humour. But the visionary that he is, he insisted on \u201cIndia playing a part for the development of World Football.\u201d \u201cMy aim as the FIFA President stays to establish Football in the Continent of India,\u201d he commented, as he repeatedly stressed on India being a \u201cContinent rather than <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42975,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[571,169,166],"class_list":["post-10784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-update","tag-aiff","tag-football","tag-sports","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10784"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42976,"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10784\/revisions\/42976"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}