AIFF sets up Benevolence Fund to aid football community
The AIFF has created a ₹7 lakh Benevolence Fund to aid ex-players, coaches, referees, and football journalists with medical expenses. A pension scheme for long-serving AIFF employees is also proposed, with a committee to oversee implementation and approvals
Hyderabad: In the Executive Committee meeting held on July 2, 2025, as a follow-up to an earlier meeting, AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey reiterated the decision to create a Benevolence Fund to support individuals associated with football — including ex-players, coaches, referees, match officials, support staff, and even football journalists. The fund will provide a one-time grant for medical purposes, with terms and conditions to be set by the relevant committees.
He cited recent instances where individuals sought financial help for serious medical conditions but found that the AIFF lacked a specific fund or policy to support such requests. To initiate the fund, the president announced a personal contribution of ₹1,00,001, which was matched by vice president NA Haris, bringing the initial total to ₹2,00,002.
The AIFF will also contribute ₹5,00,000 to the Benevolence Fund, raising the initial corpus to ₹7,00,002. Furthermore, the federation will proactively explore avenues to enhance the fund over time, including organising charity matches and mobilising support from other revenue sources and partnerships.
A dedicated committee will be formed to evaluate applications on a case-by-case basis. It will include members from the Treasurer’s office, the Finance Committee, the Medical Committee, and the Technical Committee.
The AIFF president emphasised that this initiative is a humanitarian gesture, recognising the lifelong contributions of those who have served Indian football. In addition to the Benevolence Fund, he proposed establishing a Pension Fund for AIFF employees who have served 20 years or more and retired from the organisation at age 60 or later. (The terms and conditions will be defined by the relevant committees.)
To implement the initiative, the All India Football Federation’s Finance Committee met at Football House in New Delhi on Tuesday, July 29, 2025, and approved the opening of new bank accounts for the Benevolence and Pension Funds.
Present at the meeting were Finance Committee chairperson Menla Ethenpa, AIFF Treasurer Kipa Ajay, Deputy Secretary General M. Satyanarayan, and members Syed Imtiaz Hussain, Mayank Anilkumar Buch, and LV Lalthantluanga.
Additionally, the Finance Committee reviewed the accounts for the financial year 2024–25 and sent them for audit.
The committee also proposed a new procurement policy, which will be forwarded to the Executive Committee for approval at its next meeting.
