AIFF start conducting CRS workshops from Goa

07/10/2019

The All Indian Football Federation (AIFF) is conducting Central Registration System (CRS) Workshops for football clubs across the country and has started with Goa. After numerous age-fraud cases all across the country mushroomed over the last few months, documentation was a necessary step.

To put it simply, the CRS is an information data system whose main aim has been to advance the process of player registration and domestic player transfers that would modify the transparency and flow of information.

AIFF’s Head of Players’ Status and Registration Department, Sankalp Pujari, also raised the importance of the acquaintance of such a system among the clubs all across the country. “The main objective of these workshops is to highlight the importance of the Central Registration System to the football clubs, and also help them understand how to use the system,” he said, reported AIFF.

“One of the biggest issues that we are looking to combat through the CRS mandate is age-fraud. Once a player is registered and approved in CRS, the player’s personal data, like the date of birth, cannot be changed and further the player receives a unique player ID, which remains constant throughout his or her playing career. As the CRS is also integrated with FIFA’s registration system, FIFA Connect, the player not only receives an AIFF ID, but also a global FIFA ID,” Pujari added.

Jamshedpur FC striker Gaurav Mukhi was famously caught after it was found that he was much older than the youngest play in the league and implementing this system would go a long way to curb this and the duplication of player IDs.

“In recent times, the most important upgrade that we have made in the CRS is to detect duplicate players registered in the system. With this new upgrade, AIFF as well the club registering the player will receive a notification if a player is being re-registered in the system,” said Pujari.

Introduced six years back in 2013, the system could come to full effect couple of years later with AIFF competitions coming under its purview in the 2017-18 season. Pujari went to the extent of proposing a manual for the clubs to understand it better.

“We have now made CRS registration mandatory for all players who want to play organised football. However, if a club finds it difficult to use any of the functionalities of CRS, they may approach their affiliated State Association or the AIFF for assistance,” said Pujari.

“To help the clubs understand the system better, we are in the process of creating manuals and most importantly, video tutorials for the same. In future, we are planning to roll out the manuals and video tutorials in different regional Languages as well,” he further said.

The workshops have been held in Goa from July 9 to 13 following which it would move to Bengaluru from July 22 to 27.