The All India Football Federation (AIFF), on Thursday, announced its decision to hold the knock-out stages of the Santosh Trophy in Saudi Arabia next year.
Kalyan Chaubey, president of the AIFF, and secretary general Shaji Prabhakaran signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) president Yasser Al-Mishal and general secretary Ibrahim Al Kassim to "study the possibility to stage the final stages of the Santosh Trophy in the West Asian country in February 2023".
"The idea is to host the knock out phase of Santosh Trophy in select cities of Saudi to encourage State level players to dream big and also to connect large Indian community in Saudi with Indian football and create a win-win situation for both the Federations," the AIFF said in a release.
"The agreement will allow a wide range of activations, including the provision of technological support, the organization and hosting of youth competitions for both men and women on a regular basis, as well as exchange of football and governance experts," it added.
AIFF president Chaubey said: "It is a remarkable development for Indian football. Our aim is to create a new platform for Indian football and spread it among the Indian fans all across the world. My sincere thanks to SAFF for their active cooperation in realising our goal."
Prabhakaran added, "It is an out of the box idea that I am sure will help Indian football to create a niche for itself among its loyal fans, who eagerly follow Indian football from wherever they are."