The emergency committee of the AIFF, which met in the capital, interviewed the two shortlisted candidates — Kushal Das and Bishwajit Mitra — but is yet to finalise the appointment. While Das has worked with a sports management group and the International Cricket Council (ICC), Mitra is currently employed with a top steel company.
Colaco, who first became the AIFF honorary secretary in December, 2000 and was appointed the general secretary in 2004, will step down after the Asia Cup in January 2011.
The emergency committee also rejected a proposal from national coach Bob Houghton to take the Indian team to a west Asian nation for a preparatory camp for the Asia Cup. The committee felt the tour would be too expensive and decided to ask the coach to play friendly matches against some Asian and African nations in the capital next month.
The committee also approved the plan of staging the quarter final group league matches of the Federation Cup in four different venues. While Goa, Ludhiana, Chennai and Cuttack are the four likely venues, the federation is yet to take a decision on the venue for the semi-finals and the final.
A total of 16 teams — 14 I-League clubs and two qualifiers — will play in the Federation Cup. The qualifiers will be held in Goa and Assam.
The newly-formed AIFF XI will also take part in the prestigious knock out tournament to be completed by the first week of October. The federation has also rejected a plea by East Bengal and Pune FC not to use their contracted players from the AIFF XI.
There is good news for the juniors as the federation has managed to rope in sponsors, who will be taking the Indian under-15 to Florida, USA for one-year training in the IMG Academy. It can get a three-year extension, if the players make considerable progress.