Baichung Bhutia on FIFPro panel

 Baichung Bhutia has been selected to serve on the technical committee of FIFPro, the world body for players for a four-year term.

Bhutia, technical committee chairman of the All India Football Federation and president of the Football Players Association of India, will be the only representative from Asia on the six-member committee that has three members from Europe, and one each from Asia, Africa and South America.

"As part of his role on the technical committee of FIFPro, major issues that will be dealt with and discussed are player safety, weather and playing conditions, types of playing pitches/surfaces, rules changes in the game of football affecting players and many other matters where FIFPro works for the benefit of players. They work closely with Fifa on all issues affecting players," FPAI said in a statement on Monday.

The other members of the committee include Geremi Njitap, Cameroonian international who did duty for Newcastle United, Chelsea and Real Madrid, former England junior international Simon Barker (Queens Park Rangers), Vladimir Leonchenko, president of the Russian Association for Football Players and Coaches, besides Bolivian international Jose Milton Melgar and Gernot Zirngast, former Austrian international, known for the collective bargaining rights for players in Austria and abroad.

The appointment of Bhutia, FPAI said, comes on the success and work that the former India captain has put in to develop the players' body.

"It is a great achievement for an Indian to be the only representative from Asia on the world committee," said FPAI.