Overview
Praful Manoharbhai Patel (born 17 February 1957) is an Indian politician, industrialist and sports administrator. He is associated with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). On the 25th anniversary of the NCP, party chief Sharad Pawar appointed Praful Patel and Supriya Sule as working presidents of the party.
In sports administration, Patel served as the president of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), India's governing body for association football, from 2009 until 2022. His tenure concluded when the Committee of Administrators (CoA) took over the interim administration of the AIFF following an appointment by the Supreme Court. He also serves as the President of the Western India Football Association, the state football governing body of Maharashtra.
At the continental level, Patel was elected vice president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) representing the SAFF region at the AFC Congress held in Bahrain in 2015. In December 2016, he was appointed the Senior Vice President of the Asian Football Confederation. In 2017, he became a member of a FIFA Finance Committee for a term of four years.