Minimum salary cap for women footballers, Santosh Trophy revival in AIFF boss' priority list

Chaubey also laid out his plans to revive some old tournaments including the Santosh Trophy to have a good supply chain for the national team. "We want to have a minimum salary cap for women footballers so that there's not much (salary) disparity with their male counterparts and it's at a respectable level. We also want to make IWL better than before," Chaubey said at a press conference here on Thursday.

"We will also try that there's not much disparity in the honorarium that a player gets when they represent a nation. We want to ensure that their honorarium is also increased." Chaubey did not elaborate what he meant by 'honorarium' of the national team players. Currently, each of the men's and women's national team player gets the same amount of around $30 as daily allowance per international match. The financial plight of the women players was highlighted by the iconic Bembem Devi last year when she termed the amount as "peanuts". "Women players do not get good money while playing for a club in the IWL. The club will always tell the players to take less amount of money, say Rs 50,000 or Rs 60,000. This amount is peanuts actually," she had said in November last.

As for the prize money, the IWL winners got Rs 10 lakh last season, which was even less than what the fourth placed I-League side got -- Rs 25 lakh. In comparison, the I-League winners got Rs 1 crore, while the I-League Division 2 champions were awarded Rs 50 lakh. U-17 Women's League announcedThe AIFF boss also announced the start of Under-17 Women's League which will be held in association with the Sports Authority of India. With the FIFA Under-17 Women's World Cup slated in a month's time, the AIFF has plans to promote the event by conducting matches in 40