New Delhi, May 17 (IANS): The All India Football Federation president Kalyan Chaubey on Friday, met Brazil Football Association (CBF) president Ednaldo Rodrigues and extended his heartfelt congratulations for Brazil being allotted to host the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027.

The AIFF president is currently in Thailand to attend the 74th FIFA Congress. On the sidelines of Congress, Chaubey held meetings with senior FIFA officials, including FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

Brazil will host the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027, the 10th edition of the championship, thus becoming the first South American nation to host the Women’s World Cup.

While congratulating Brazil, Chaubey said, “It is great news that a great footballing nation like Brazil will host the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027. We have special reasons to feel excited about it, as India are currently making rapid progress in women’s football.

“In the last two years, women’s football in India have made tremendous progress. The Indian Women’s League (IWL), which was a single-venue tournament, has become a hugely successful championship played on a home-and-away basis across the country. The second tier of IWL has already been introduced, which has attracted considerable participation. The fact that we saw a 138 percent growth in terms of the number of women players registered on the AIFF CMS (Competition Management System), speaks a lot about how far women’s football has come in just the last two years.”

The AIFF president said, “In 2027, in Brazil, the best women's teams in the world will assemble to fight for the glittering Women’s World Cup. We cannot, at the moment, predict whether India will be there. But what I can predict with confidence is that the day is not far off when the Indian women’s team will be seen in action in the world's top tournaments.”