Promotion of Women Football in the Country The Minister of State (I/C) for Youth Affairs and Sports Shri Vijay Goel said in the Rajya Sabha today that the Indian womens national team is currently ranked 54 by FIFA whereas mens team is ranked 132. In a written reply he said development and promotion of a sport is primarily the responsibility of the concerned National Sports Federation (NSF). Government has recognized All India Football Federation (AIFF) as the NSF for promotion and development of football sport in the country. AIFF has informed that the following steps have been taken by them to promote women football in the country: (i) The Indian Womens League (IWL) has been started in 2016-17. 25 teams from various States of the country participated in the League. The IWL is planned to be an annual affair with regular improvements every year. (ii) Regular grassroots activities involving Girls schools, Physical Education female teachers are organized as part of the FIFA Live Your Goals Program as well as separately. In coach education, seats for women candidates are reserved in all coach education courses conducted by the AIFF. (iii) National Football Championships for Sub-Junior, Junior, Senior Women followed by Scouting is organized every year. (iv) India won both the SAFF Championship 2016 as well as South Asian Games 2015. For the year 2016-17 a budget of Rs. 7.78 crores and Rs. 17.77 crores has been allocated by AIFF for womens and mens football respectively. Indian Women League (IWL) is an event in which city teams, owned by private franchisees participate. Government has no role in the matter. All India Football Federation has informed that to increase the viewership they have taken the following steps: (i) Live facebook stream has been done for all the matches of the Indian Womens League 2016-17. The minimum viewership of the live streaming was approximately 32,000 per match while the maximum was 64,000. (ii) The IWL was launched in presence of all journalists from all major media houses in Delhi, which resulted in significant media coverage of the event. On an ongoing basis as well, regular print media and social media coverage was provided to reach out to the mass audience.
