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Football in India received a massive boost last year as the FIFA U-17 World Cup was welcomed by enormous crowds and huge interest across the world’s second largest nation. With that major landmark ticked off, attention has now focused on further developing women’s football in this sprawling and diverse nation of 1.3 billion people.

The year 2017 will go down as a key milestone in the development of Mexican football. Following a period of hard work and meticulous planning, one of the most significant steps forward has been the launch of a brand new national women’s football tournament, the Liga MX Femenil.

As commonplace as that phrase may be by now, there is a lot of truth in it as the foundations for a successful career are often laid at an early age. To that end, the Football Federation of North Macedonia (FFM) is now able to offer its young players new opportunities and is eager to make the most of the momentum gained by recent positive developments.

A new futsal arena was recently inaugurated by the Costa Rican FA (FEDEFUTBOL), with the facility set to help the development of the men's and women's national futsal teams. Representatives from FIFA and CONCACAF were among the attendees for the opening of the premises, which will allow the country's national futsal teams to prepare for international tournaments in excellent conditions with futsal competitions also set to kick off soon in the facilities.

The Football Association of Cuba (AFC)’s general secretary Jesus Pereira and his counterpart at the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), Walter Feldmann, signed a collaboration agreement to promote the technical development of Cuban football from youth to elite level. The agreement was signed in the presence of Jair Bertoni, FIFA’s Director of Member Associations, Americas, and members of FIFA regional offices in Panama and Asuncion. The partnership will also promote training for referees on the island. The project, which aims to support technical development from grassroots level, began last Monday with a course for Cuban youth team coaches.

From 11 to 12 December representatives of FIFA and the FIFA Connect team presented the digital platform to a range of selected Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) Spanish-speaking Member Association (MA) representatives who will be using the new system to register their football stakeholders in the future.

In Benin, there are innumerable opportunities to gather together around football.
It is not uncommon to witness scenes of jubilation in the streets whenever the national team - also known as Les Écureuils (The Squirrels) - finds the back of their opponents’ goal nets.
Having qualified for three recent CAF Africa Cup of Nations in 2004, 2008 and 2010, the dream of a first FIFA World Cup™ qualification for the vibrant West African team seems within reach.

Football is the most popular sport in Turkey, where the first football league was established in 1904. Nowadays, with the support of the FIFA Forward programme, sustainable football development is becoming a reality in this huge country covering approximately 780,000 km2 and straddling two continents.

Recently, a FIFA delegation representing the member associations (MA) division paid a visit to the Bhutan Football Federation (BFF) to host a meeting with several Member Associations originating from the AFC region – among them were represented the football associations of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Guam, India, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.

he Tajikistan Football Federation will continue with their TFF Academy project, with the funds secured via the FIFA Forward 2.0 programme. The TFF project has already helped the Tajikistan U-17 national team reach the final of the 2018 AFC U-16 Championship and secure qualification for the FIFA U-17 World Cup just for the second time in their history.