The All India Football Federation will soon ink a formal agreement with the Jharkhand government to aid in the skill enhancement of players in the state, an AIFF official said on Wednesday.

Former international footballer Abhishek Yadav, who is the deputy general secretary of AIFF, announced that talks with the government are in the final phase. Yadav was in Jamshedpur to oversee the conduct of the senior women’s national camp for the AFC Women’s Asia Cup scheduled to be held in India early next year.

“We are happy at the proactive support shown by chief minister Hemant Soren in hosting the women’s national camp in Jharkhand during the Covid pandemic. He has sought the federation’s help in improving football standards in Jharkhand and soon a formal agreement would be inked with the government in this regard,” said Yadav, who is said to be the first international player to be appointed to a high post in the AIFF.

Yadav, who had also been the national football director, further said: “The MoU with the state government would touch the verticals of providing AIFF expertise in domestic leagues, improving standards of domestic players and also the conduct national and international matches in Jharkhand, apart from hosting national camps.”

Sumati Kumari, a 17-year-old forward, who hails from the extremism-affected and backward Bharno block of Gumla district, is among the 30 probables taking part in the national camp. The AFC Women’s Asia Cup is scheduled to be held from January 20 to February 6, 2022. Sumati is also part of the Indian squad for the Fifa U-17 Women’s World Cup also scheduled to be held in India in October 2022.

Probables at the women’s football national camp in Jamshedpur on Wednesday Bhola Prasad

Jharkhand sports director Zeeshan Qamar outlined the objective behind hosting the six-month-long national camp in Jamshedpur.

“We aim to improve standards of domestic women footballers through the camp. There will be practice matches between the national football teams and local players. It would be an ideal opportunity for Jharkhand players to learn the nuances of international standards from some of the best women’s players of the country. We would also aspire to host some of the international matches next year as we have a good sports infrastructure at JRD Tata Sports Complex in Jamshedpur,” said Qamar.

Jharkhand sports minister Hafizul Hassan who was also in the city to encourage the women’s team said that the state government would soon launch its new sports policy. “The sports policy would be released soon in which we aim to provide jobs to 50 meritorious players every year and create sports infrastructure in each of the blocks (264) in Jharkhand to tap the talent at the grassroots level and hone their skills at the state-level training centres,” Hassan said.

The national camp which began on August 17 at Jamshedpur is being supervised by Swedish coach Thomas Dennerby. Dennerby, who has over three decades of experience, previously guided the Swedish national team to a third-place finish in the 2011 Fifa Women’s World Cup, and to a quarter-final spot in the 2012 London Olympics.