SAFF Club C’ship will have to wait till at least 2028: Kattel

After 17 years at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), what made you take up the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) job?I saw SAFF as an organisation which has a lot of potential but not explored. I saw a lot of opportunities. I saw challenges for myself too. At AFC, I was not in core competitions, largely handling media operations, international relations and governance. So, I thought it's a bit of a new start for me as well. It helped that AFC recommended me, since they wanted SAFF to be on par with other regional associations.

Since taking over a year ago, what kind of challenges have you faced?The main challenges are all sociopolitical. For example, we have three big markets, population-wise, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. All three member associations have a lot of political issues. Football-wise, they are fine, but politically there are issues. It becomes difficult to attract (comercial) partners. Even visas are an issue since it can even take a month to obtain one (for some member associations). Also, football is not the most popular sport in South Asia. It’s popular, but not the number one sport, unlike other regions. It’s a popular game, but a lot of people only watch elite (European) football.

Almost a quarter of the world’s population live in South Asia. Does that help?Of course, the potential is huge. If you tap into the population a bit, it’s a huge market. A lot of the population follow the sport, it’s popular. What we need to do is get these fans interested in regional competitions. Our member associations too need to develop. All of us need to work together.

The proposed SAFF men's club championship has garnered plenty of interest. How soon can this turn into a reality?
To be very honest, we have not planned it even for 2027. It was initially planned for 2026, when we had a (commercial) partner, but now we don’t have one. Last year, when we were working on the calendar, the leagues were uncertain. Nepal didn’t happen, same with Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Maldives was struggling. At that time, only Bangladesh and Bhutan had a league; even India happened much later. We still don’t have a sustainable league program in all our South Asian member associations. Uncertain leagues don’t help. You can’t have the championship one year and discard the next. It doesn't give any extra impetus to the club competition. There are logistical challenges too, since a centrally-hosted tournament will not generate interest.

Is VAR a possibility for the men’s championship in Nov?
Yes. We are in talks with international organisations to implement VAR soon.

There has been increased activities and more football competitions in South Asia. Without a commercial partner, how does SAFF generate funds?
That’s possible because of the support provided by FIFA and AFC. Whenever we make a detailed proposal, we have had support. We have maintained good relations. All support that can be rendered from AFC and FIFA, we have received it.

SAFF invited foreign teams like Kuwait and Lebanon for the last men’s championship in Bengaluru. Will that continue?
There is no unanimity. Some members think if we get foreign teams, they will thrash (some of) our teams and they’ll get discouraged. Others think it leads to better competition and level improves. There are financial implications too. We don’t have a clear policy yet. This was put before our executive committee, and we decided that a final call will be taken only after a detailed discussion. This decision cannot be taken by the administration alone.