1st Ever Bi-annual SAFF Clubs Championship to Kick Off in September

Sportz Power India: NEW DELHI: The first ever bi-annual South Asia Football Federation (SAFF) Clubs Championship will be held in India from September 1 to 15, the Member Associations (MAs) of SAFF decided here today, at a seminar organised jointly by SAFF, AIFF and India's biggest industry body Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry..

Also decided was that it will be held every second edition in this country, which SAFF’s sole marketing agency World Sports Group said is the biggest market for football in the eight-country formation under the aegis of the Asian Football Confederation.

This means that the 2015 SAFF Clubs Championship will be held here, and in between, as in 2013, it will be held in any other member country excepting India and Bangladesh.

During the presentation from WSG by Ian Mathie, he had reiterated the point that football marketers have been insisting on at almost every for a: the dates for such events have to be fixed in advance, so that there is ample time for them to get sponsorships.

Keeping this in mind, it was decided that the date for the bi-annual tournament will remain September 1 to 15 for the years in which the tournament will be played.

There was some discussion on whether all the MAs would agree to this or not, since countries like Maldives have a strong professional club tournament and their dates might clash with the September timeline set today.

Barring Maldives all the MAs agreed t accept that date, though Maldives has not said No to this.

Let the event start, was the general agreement of all present at the seminar held in one of FICCI's auditoriums.

However, SAFF General Secretary added one more conditionality in aid of better marketing prospects: the bidding countries must from the next edition (that is, of 2013) will have to specify the city and the stadia in which they propose to hold the tournament, so that these cities and stadia be checked out by the SAFF for playing conditions, floodlighting, facilities, etc., all of which are vital for deliverables that can be offered to the sponsors.