Bhutia conferred honorary life membership of PFPA

KOLKATA: Indian captain Bhaichung Bhutia has been conferred honorary life membership of Portugal Football Players' Association thus joining a list of all time greats including Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Figo and Nuno Gomes.
Football Players' Association of India secretary Sumit Mukherjee on Wednesday confirmed the honour bestowed on Bhutia and said he had received a letter from the PFPA.
"The letter says, 'We are honoured to give Bhaichung Bhutia the lifetime membership.' I forwarded it to Bhutia a little while ago," Mukherjee said.
Bhutia is the president of Football Players Association of India.
"It's a huge achievement and an honour for Indian football as a whole. Besides, PFPA, a big organisation that it is, has also promised to help in further development of the game in India if necessary," Mukherjee added.
The Indian captain has earlier got international fame when he turned out for a side led by Zinedine Zidane in an exhibition tie organised in January by the United Nations for the benefit of Haiti earthquake victims.
The match was played against Benfica All Stars team in the Stadium of Light in Lisbon.
A couple of years ago as well, Bhutia had featured in the Goal4Africa charity match at the Allianz Arena, home of Bayern Munich, scoring twice for the Clearance Seedorf-led team.