Former India Goalkeeper Subrata Paul Named National Football Team Director By AIFF

Former India goalkeeper Subrata Paul was on Friday named the national team director by the technical committee of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), which also recommended Bibiano Fernandes as the men's U20 side head coach. The decisions were taken in a technical committee meeting chaired by former India captain IM Vijayan and attended by Shabbir Ali, Victor Amalraj, Climax Lawrence, Harjinder Singh and Santosh Singh. AIFF Secretary General Anilkumar Prabhakaran and treasurer Kipa Ajay, along with technical director Syed Sabir Pasha, were also present in the meeting here.

"The Technical Committee confirmed the appointment of former India international Subrata Paul as the Director, National Team," the AIFF said in a release.

"The Committee recommended the appointment of Bibiano Fernandes, Head coach of the U20 National Men's team." The Technical Committee discussed at length on the importance of football development at the grassroots, and recommended an annual inter-school tournament at the state and the national levels for boys and girls in the age group of 9-10 and 11-12.

To evaluate the performance of the national team in both the men's and women's categories, the technical committee also recommended the constitution of a four-member study group with Sajid Dar, Jeddy Almeida, Shakti Chauhan and Gumpe Rime as the members.

Vijayan said his committee and the technical department has proposed modifications in the development programme, which will help in producing quality players in the country.

"At present we have a large number of players playing at the grassroots and youth level. However, our performance with the national team has not reached the desired level," said Vijayan.

"At present, we need to have a