E-Paper
I-League set for hit as AIFF cuts ₹20 crore from competitions' budget
Surplus of ₹30 lakh for 2024-25 but expenditure reduced for tournaments
Unlike last year’s budget which had a projected deficit of around ₹2 crore, All India Football Federation (AIFF) has presented one with a surplus of ₹30 lakh for the next fiscal. But since AIFF’s overall projected income is down by nearly ₹11 crore from 2023-24, there has been a lot of pruning in expenditure on football activities in the budget passed at AIFF’s annual general meeting on Sunday. HT has a copy.
For 2024-25, AIFF slashed nearly ₹20 crore from its competitions’ budget. What was ₹62.25 crore in 23-24 will now be ₹42.84 crore. With expenditure on it cut by ₹4.02 crore, from ₹14.20 to ₹10.18 crore, I-League’s first division will face a significant hit.
Barring Santosh Trophy and the age-specific Khelo India girls’ leagues, there will be reduced spending on all AIFF tournaments. From ₹3.26 crore spent on the I-League second division, AIFF has allocated ₹1.69 crore this term. From ₹4.50 crore allotted in 23-24, only ₹1 crore has been earmarked for international friendlies.
The total spend on the men’s national team remains almost the same, ₹21.50 crore in 23-24 to ₹21.51 crore this year, but preparatory camps and tournaments have got an increased allocation of ₹1.33 crore. However, nothing has been earmarked for the men’s under-23 team and amounts for the under-20 and under-17 have been slashed. In the year of the Asian under-17 qualifiers, the budget for that age-specific team has been reduced from ₹4.42 crore to ₹2.11 crore.
The amount set aside for camps and tournaments for the senior women’s team will see a nearly three-fold increase, from ₹3 crore to ₹8.27 crore but for the under-20 and under-17 national teams, spending will be reduced.
And while salaries for the men’s team staff has increased from ₹8.90 crore to ₹11.21 crore, the budget for the staff of the women’s team has been cut from ₹3 crore to ₹1.82 crore.
Even after increase in grants from FIFA ( ₹21.16 crore from ₹16.21 crore) and Asian Football Confederation ( ₹10.91 crore from ₹9.10 crore), AIFF’s projected income has come down from ₹132.31 crore to ₹121.38 crore. Reduction of government grants by ₹9 crore is one reason. AIFF’s projected income is ₹121.38 crore.
Despite cuts almost everywhere –scouting ( ₹40 lakh from ₹1 crore) and grassroots development and courses ( ₹22 lakh from ₹1 crore), assistance to states ( ₹8.64 crore to ₹8.16 crore) – general administration will see an increased allocation of ₹77 lakh, from ₹7.73 crore to ₹8.50 crore. Budget for legal and compliances too has gone up from ₹1.20 crore to ₹1.80 crore. And while the business and marketing budget has been trimmed to ₹2.74 crore from ₹4.85 crore, its sub-head of “media, communications and PR will see an increase of ₹99 lakh, to ₹2.49 crore from ₹1.50 crore.
