AIFF signs MOU with German Football Association

New Delhi: The All India Football Federation (AIFF) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with its German counterpart, DFB, here on Friday.

The signing of the agreement coincided with German Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to India.

Kushal Das, General Secretary AIFF and Friedrich Curtius, General Secretary DFB, signed the document to formalise the relationship between the two football governing bodies.

"The MoU covers a wide range of areas pertaining to Indian football such as coach education (including grassroots), talent scouting and promotion, deployment of professional referees to India, exchange between national teams and visit of DFB all-star team (if feasible), joint marketing initiatives and sports administration via discussions on their competition management solutions," said the AIFF in a statement.

"Football cooperation among states is also one of the agendas in respective Government's discussion," it added.

Das expressed delight at joining hands with DFB.

"It is a great honour for AIFF to get into this agreement with DFB. I am sure this will immensely benefit Indian football significantly.

"Germany are renowned for their footballing prowess, and the work done by them at the grassroots level stands out. The MoU represents a great opportunity to learn from their experience and expertise through mutual cooperation and collaboration, he added.