India, Afghan gear up for the SAFF Championship title

KATHMANDU: India and Afghanistan will rock Dasrath Rangsala for the title of eighth SAFF Championship 2013 on Wednesday evening.

India has won the title for five times so far and though its perfomance in this tournament has not been goood, it neverthless has defeated Aghanistan earlier in 2011 to claim the trophy.

Meanwhile two Afghanistani cabinet ministers and four other senior officials have arrived in Kathmandu to watch the match.

The entourage includes Education Minister Ghulam Farooq Wardak, Finance Minister Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal, Rural Rehabilitation and Development Minister Qais Ahmad Barmak and Ambassador of Afghanistan to India, Shaida Mohd Abdali, who holds Cabinet-rank, according to a correspondence sent by Embassy of Afghanistan in New Delhi to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Nepal.

Next SAFF Championship in India

Kathmandu: The South Asian Football Federation on Tuesday decided to organise the ninth SAFF Championship in India. The meeting decided to award the hosting right to India complying with the contract with the main sponsors, World Sports Group. “As per our contract with the WSG, we have to organise the tournament in India in every alternate year,” said SAFF General Secretary Alberto Colaco. He informed the meeting decided to amend the statute “in order to raise the profile of SAFF.” The meeting also decided to initiate Club Championship and SAFF U-19 Championship and hosting of Women’s SAFF Championship in Pakistan next year.