Football Association of Odisha (FAO) Joint-Secretary Avijit Paul, along with All India Football Federation (AIFF) President Kalyan Chaubey and Secretary General Shaji Prabhakaran, attended the 73rd FIFA Congress in Kigali, Rwanda today.

This is for the first time that a sports administrator from Odisha attended the FIFA Congress. Paul is now functioning as a member of the AIFF Executive Committee and its Chairman of State Development Committee. A native of Cuttack, Paul is also functioning as the Secretary of Odisha Olympic Association.

Meanwhile, Gianni Infantino was re-elected unopposed as the FIFA President for a four-year term at the FIFA Congress. The 52-year-old Swiss lawyer, who succeeded the disgraced Sepp Blatter in 2016, was waved in for a third term by acclamation, just as he was four years ago, by delegates from the 211 member federations.

In a major development, the FIF Congress decided that from the year 2025, the U-17 Boys and  U-17 Girls World Cup will be held every year.
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PHOTO: AIFF President Kalyan Chaubey (Centre), Secretary General Shaji Prabhakaran (Left) and Executive Committee Member Avijit Paul at the FIFA Congress in Kigali on 16 March 2023.