Football Association of Odisha (FAO) today announced several new plans for the development of the sport in the state. The plans included introduction of inter-district school and junior tournaments and fielding of state under 13, 15 and 18 teams in the AIFF Youth League.

Decisions related to the new plans were taken in the FAO Annual General Body Meeting, held at OCA Conference Hall, Barabati Stadium, Cuttack, earlier in the day. According to a FAO press release FAO will conduct Inter-District School Football Championship first at the district level and champion teams of district-level tournaments will be eligible to compete in the Final Round to determine the champion school of the state.

The Inter-District Junior Tournament will be organised for both boys and girls. A budged of Rs 49,60,752 for the year 207-18 was presented in the AGM. The budget featured allocations of Rs 6 lakh for FAO Men’s League, Rs 3 lakh for Women’s League, Rs 2.25 lakh for Sahani Cup Men’s Senior Inter-District Tournament and Rs 1.75 lakh for PC Behera Trophy Senior Women’s Inter-District Tournament.

The meeting was presided over by FAO working president Dr Srikara Mishra. Odisha Athletic Association secretary Asirbad Behera, FAO vice-presidents Bhakta Ballav Das, Bijaya Das, Prahlad Tripathy, Subrat Kumar Panda, Rabi Naryan Panda, Tadit Kumar Rout, Dillip Kumar Sahoo; secretary Sanjay Behera, joint-secretaries Avijit Paul, Bijaya Kumar Das, Sangeeta Sharma and treasurer M A Alam were present in the meeting.