The Indian cricket Board’s decision to grant Rs 25-crore to the All India Football Federation (AIFF) seems have come across as a huge relief for the national football administration. One of AIFF’s key missions has been the much talked about Goal Project 2011. However, the project has been under a cloud after the recession hit last year. With the AIFF looking at a Rs 40 crore budget for the mission, the BCCI’s grant will make quite a difference, reckons AIFF treasurer Hardev Jadeja in an interview to The Indian Express.

Welcoming the BCCI grant, Jadeja told this daily: “We need Rs 40 crore for the project. We need a select pool of 25 national players and the plan is to nurture them till the 2010-11 season-end. We will give them handsome monthly salary and there will be several international exposure trips as proposed by national coach Bob Houghton. Our working president Praful Patel has been desperately looking out for a good amount of fund inflow. Now that BCCI is helping us, a grant of Rs 12.5 crore each year is welcome news. I hope we will have a final discussion on the issue in our next meeting before the Nehru Cup final on August 31 and I will place my suggestion that the BCCI grant should exclusively be preserved for the Goal Project.”

The Federation meeting is also likely to have another round of discussion over the selection of the new AIFF secretary. Ten applicants for the post have been short-listed so far.