New Delhi, July 9 (IANS) Praful Patel, President, All India Football Federation kickstarted the virtual session of the first batch of the AIFF Masters Programme in an online meeting on Thursday.

The AIFF Masters, the latest feather in the cap of AIFF under the leadership of Patel, is the first and only sports management course among all National Sports Federations in the country.

Besides Patel, senior Vice President Subrata Dutta, AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das, as well as all the HODs, attended the meeting. Enrique Perez, Corporate and business director, Cadiz CF, the Spanish club with whom AIFF has signed an MoU regarding the AIFF Masters Programme, attended the programme from Spain.

Welcoming all the students of the "first batch of the AIFF Masters course", Patel said: "Warm welcome to the inaugural session of AIFF Masters."

Welcoming all the students who have enrolled in the course after the CAT process, Patel highlighted the "need for a new breed of football professionals in the country."

"This is a unique programme by the All India Football Federation. I'm really happy that the first batch is kick-starting in 2020. I know a lot of people are passionate about football. But we don't have more talented football administrators in our country. A new breed of football professionals is required, and hence, we took it upon ourselves to start this Masters Programme," Patel said.

--IANS dm/bbh