Portuguese De Matos becomes U-17 team's coach

All India Football Federation (AIFF), on Wednesday, appointed Portugal's Luis Norton de Matos as the Head Coach of the India U-17 World Cup team for the forthcoming FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017.

Matos, who met the AIFF Advisory Committee including representatives from Sports Authority of India and had a chat with Injeti Srinivas, Director General SAI on Monday evening, flew to Mumbai to meet with the AIFF President Praful Patel on Tuesday.

Welcoming Matos, Patel said: "It's nice to have Matos on board. His experience of handling youth teams will be handy for the U-17 boys as we wish to leave no stone unturned to field a competitive team in the U-17 World Cup. I expect him to guide our boys to put up a strong performance in the World Cup."

The 63-year old Coach "thanked" AIFF for making him a "part of the project."

"My role will be to orchestrate everything wherein the players will be playing their part," he said. "I admire AIFF's vision and the U-17 World Cup will act as base for development of football in India. The players need to believe in themselves to do something special for the country," he stated.

"I do have an Indian connection as my great grandfather was born in Goa," he said. "I will retain the positives of the last two years as we move forward," he maintained.