Xtra Time Web Desk: The Salt Lake Stadium metro station was officially named after Indian Football Association (IFA) on Thursday. The newly built metro station will be called after the century old football association of the state of West Bengal. The inauguration ceremony was attended by IFA President Ajit Banerjee, Chairman Subrata Dutt and Secretary Joydeep Mukherjee along with Satyaki Nath of Metro Railways. Former footballers Manas Bhattacharya, Krishnendu Roy and Prashanta Banerjee were also present on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, IFA President Ajit Bandyopadhyay said, “Congratulations to the Metro Rail Authority for taking such an initiative. Today is a memorable day for us.”
IFA-Chairman Subrata Dutt said: “There is no FIFA station in Zurich. The IFA has made history in that regard.”
The station is beautifully decorated with the pictures of two Olympians of the country – PK Banerjee and Chuni Goswami. There will be a kiosk soon inside the station to give details about the way to the stadium. There will also be signages to direct the fans going to a particular gate.
Incidentally, there are several metro stations associated with a football club or a association like the famous Arsenal club of London. Wembley Park station is named after the world famous Wembley stadium.
A part of the East-West metro corridor, the station officiated began operations in limited capacity earlier in 2020, before the Covid-19 lockdown forced it to close down again for a number of months. But now with the Metro services having resumed, the IFA is taking over the branding of Salt Lake Stadium metro station.