Dasmunsi calls upon corporate houses to emulate Coca Cola

Kolkata, Jul 4 (UNI) All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi today warned the state soccer associations and football managers not to overstep their juridictions as trespassing would not help improve the standard of soccer in the country.

Mr Dasmunsi's warning came in the backdrop of the recent comment by senior India team coach Bob Houghton that the state football associations, including Indian Football Association (IFA), were squarely responsible for the poor standard of Indian soccer.

The AIFF president without naming anyone said all should work hard in unison for betterment of football.

Sixty-one-year-old Englishman Bobby Houghton took the charge as the chief national coach for senior India team in June 2006, and within two years India lost 0-1 to Maldives in the final at SAFF Cup in Male last month.

India's ranked 151 in the FIFA line up.

Mr Dasmunsi, however, said he would talk to the coach on his reported comment.

He also called upon the corporate houses for sponsorship of football tournaments, saying if 10 per cent was invested in soccer than that of cricket in India, soccer would have had a brighter future.

Earlier, Mr Dasmunshi thanked Coca Cola for sponsoring 16 boys aged between 13 and 16 for weeklong soccer training in Rio de Janeiro.

'' We need many more companies like Coca Cola India to come forward and participate towards making sports a way of life in India, '' the AIFF chief said.

Six boys from Kolkata, three each from Gurgaon and Mumbai and one each from Chandigarh, Bangalore, Chennai and Goa, had been shortlisted for training at Brazilian Football Academy under the tutelege of world cup winning captain Carlos Alberto Parreira.

Former India internatinal Joe Paul Ancheri would also accompany the boys as coach.

The coahing will be held between July 7-12 in Rio de Janeiro in which 312 youths from 26 nations would take part.

Coca Cola, India, president and CEO Atul Singh said the company was committed to providing necessay assistance for betterment of soccer in the country.

UNI PC SJC/RAR RK1833