New partnership FPAI & Decathlon provides free football boots, playing accessories and exclusive benefits to Indian women’s national team players while promoting the growth of women’s football in India.
Kolkata, July 15: The Football Players’ Association of India (FPAI) has launched a new initiative to further empower Indian football. FPAI and Decathlon India officially announced their partnership, reaffirming their commitment to supporting the growth of women’s football in the country.
As part of the initiative, FPAI and Decathlon India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to support and empower Indian women footballers by providing essential playing equipment, including football boots and other accessories.
The event was attended by FPAI President Mehrajuddin Wadoo, Vice President Arindam Bhattacharya, and four senior Indian women’s national team players, Priyangka Devi Naorem, Rimpa Haldar, Astham Oraon, and Monalisa Moirangthem.
Selected players from the Indian Women’s National Football Team were present at the event. As part of the initiative, two selected players, Monalisha Moirangthem and Rimpa Haldar, will receive full playing accessories, including football boots, free of cost for one year.
In addition, all Indian women’s national team players will be eligible for a special discount on Decathlon products throughout the year.
The initiative aims to set an example and highlights the need for greater support for Indian women’s football. With many women footballers facing financial challenges and many hurdles, this partnership between FPAI and Decathlon India is expected to provide valuable assistance and help them pursue their football careers with fewer hurdles.
Mehrajuddin Wadoo appreciates this great initiative by FPAI and Decathlon India. He stated that FPAI has always worked for the betterment and welfare of footballers, and hopes this support for the national team players will also encourage more help for women footballers across the country.
“I think it’s a great initiative. Football Players Association is always working for the betterment of the players and for the welfare of the players. This initiative was taken in between the Decathlon India and Football Players Association of India, where they are sponsoring the girls from the national team. I think the benefit of this is for getting other women footballers from our country. Football Players Association is always there for the players, whether it’s men or women. And they continue to work for the welfare of Indian football” Mehrajuddin Wadoo said.
Arindam Bhattacharya said the initiative is only the first step towards supporting Indian women’s football. He stressed that the aim is to reduce players’ financial burden, help them focus on football, and attract more sponsors to strengthen the women’s game in the future.
“It’s just the beginning, the women’s football has been deprived for very long. And now we are trying to make all the small differences as players’ union. I think the girls have been doing amazing and very few games and they have still made us proud in the Asia Cup even though we didn’t get the result.
We are trying to do our bit and I want to thank Decathlon for giving us this opportunity. We have a few girls now, but I am sure the girls will do an amazing job with their kits on and we can get some more sponsors, some better teams for the upcoming players. And we can just let them play football and we can try and cover their expenses so they don’t need to worry about anything else. So that’s our plan, it’s just the first step, but I think we will keep doing this kind of work” said Arindam Bhattacharya.
With the launch of four new football boots, including one signed by French star and Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann, Decathlon also announced special offers on the boots for Indian women’s national team players. The initiative marks another positive step towards supporting women’s football, giving players better access to quality equipment while encouraging their growth on and off the pitch.
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