New Delhi: Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju, along with Kushal Das, General Secretary of AIFF, launched the AIFF Golden Baby Leagues Handbook 2019-20 on the sidelines of the Intercontinental Cup in Ahmedabad.

The launch also marked the renaming of the 'AIFF Baby Leagues' to 'AIFF Golden Baby Leagues', with emphasis being laid for ages under 6 to under 12 both for girls and boys.

"Baby League sounds very cute to me. The actual scouting has to start from a very young age. I have been explained how it's planned by the AIFF. I'm really interested to see the result of that. We'll look to put more emphasis on the Golden Baby League tournament," Rijiju said.

🗣 @KirenRijiju: India 🇮🇳 has to put in a lot of effort to improve football 🙌🙌#BackTheBlue 💙 #IndianFootball ⚽ pic.twitter.com/XStGVHFmN2 — Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) July 14, 2019

The handbook is a guide to help the stakeholder to organise the Golden Baby Leagues. The league is aimed to provide access to football in localities irrespective of gender, religion, economic background, or ethnic origin. The league can be organised by anyone, as long as the Handbook guidelines are met.

The AIFF has invited all stakeholders including state associations, clubs, academies, schools, non-government organizations, parents, coaches, football fans to be a part of this grassroots player development initiative. The handbook can be downloaded from the 'Document Library' of the AIFF website, under 'About AIFF.'