New Delhi, April 26: The Asian Football Confederation today sought the help of the Government to develop more playing fields to promote soccer in the country as part of the Vision India programme.

Talking to mediapersons after the two-day pilot programme with the Delhi Soccer Association, AFC general secretary Peter Velappan said the lack of play grounds is really hampering the development of the game in the capital.

�There are 82 clubs in Delhi and they play 360 games in three months in just six play grounds which is totally inadequate,� Velappan said.

�We want more playing fields and we want the government�s help to convert the green zones to areas where football, for that matter any other sport, can be played.

If the government does not help there is no way.

We have met Sport Minister Sunil Dutt and he gave us a patient hearing,� he said.

AIFF president Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi said talks were on with the DDA to explore the possibility of using the DDA sports centres in different parts of the city.

The AFC official also stressed the need to increase the player pool in the country to find talented players.

�In Delhi we have only 15,000 playing soccer out of a population of 14 million which is very low.

In places like Germany the ratio is as high as six % of the population,� Velappan said.

�In the next five years we want to have more footballers in schools which will help clubs and in the end India to climb up the ladder in the long term,� he said.

The AIFF has identified two places - Delhi and Manipur - for the pilot project which will act as models for the other projects in the country.

The seven-member AFC team will travel to Manipur tomorrow.

Velappan said, after interacting with various experts, that football in Delhi is alive and kicking and Vision India will help to make Delhi soccer a marketable product.

�Over the last two days we have talked to club officials and other stake holders in Delhi soccer.

Now we will submit a report to DSA and AIFF on the current status,� he said.

�We were impressed by the number of football activities in Delhi at the club and school level and among women though they have not got enough media attention�.

Taking the example of Japan�s success story, Velappan called for the integration of club football and school football.

�Each club can adopt 2-3 schools in the area and in turn schools will allow the use of their play grounds.

This way it will become a community based club�.

The AFC has also asked AIFF to set up a task force with representatives from all the fields.

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