The first Indian to be elected to the FIFA Council, joining on 7 April 2019, Parful Patel has been President of the All India Football Federation since 2012. An elected politician since the early 1990s, Patel is a member of the Indian parliament for the state of Mahrashtra (current term until 2022), and was appointed as an Asian Football Confederation vice-president in 2015 until accepting his role on the FIFA Council. He was the chairman of the Local Organising Committee during the FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017, as well as being on the FIFA Financial Committee since 2017.