Fifa wants to gift India 60 turfs

MUMBAI, April 2: It might sound too good to be true but India could soon have close to 60 new artificial football fields. For this to happen, of course, the Indian government will have to cooperate with Fifa, the world's governing body in football, which wants to sponsor the fields as part of its 'Win India in India' project.

Last February, Fifa president Sepp Blatter who was in Delhi, promised to take Indian football to an international level. 'Win India in India' is similar to Fifa's successful African venture, and is likely to be launched in June this year with legends Michel Platini (France) and Franz Beckenbauer (Germany) gracing the occasion. Blatter said he had met the President and Prime Minister and went on record to say that he had received an encouraging response from both.

The new turfs are "cost-effective and cheap to maintain," said Deepak Khanolkar, Indian consultant for Greenfield BV, the Dutch company which won the Fifa contract for the specialised football fields.

"The 52 turfs, which were laid in Africa in 2006, cost $160,000 each. They were specially made to suit the hot and arid local conditions. We have laid hockey turfs as well. Most recently, UEFA's Europa Cup (under-21) was played on artificial turf laid by Greenfield in Holland," he said.

Under the understanding, Fifa will lay the turf on land provided by the government, set up training areas and other facilities and operate and maintain the grounds for a fixed period before the government takes charge.

The project under the Vision Asia development scheme is the second in the country, with a deadline of 2011.

In February 2008, the Fifa president announced that the body was ready to consider the use of plastic pitches for the 2010 World Cup. This decision was prompted by the quality of grass surfaces in Africa, where long spells of hot sun and drought frequently followed by torrential downpour made the pitches unplayable. However, a final decision on the issue has not been taken.