By IANS,
New Delhi : The All India Football Federation (AIFF) and world football’s governing body FIFA will be setting up regional academies and an elite academy in India.
The decision was taken after the visit of the two-member FIFA technical team comprising of Thierry Regenass, director member associations and Development Vision, and Jean-Michel Benezet, Technical Director, FIFA.
In the first phase of the project, the four regional academies would be set up in Bangalore (Goal Project), Kolkata (Pailan World School), Mumbai or Navi Mumbai and Delhi. If the Sikkim Goal Project is fully operational by the end of this year, it may also be added in the first phase itself.
In the next phase — by March 2013, academies would be set-up in Chennai, Chandigarh and Kerala.
The Goa Technical Centre which currently is used as a Training Centre for the U-16 and U-19 national teams will continue for the time being but once the other academies are in place, the AIFF plans to make it a regional academy.
Each academy will house 30-35 boys who will be selected from the grassroots level in the age group of 13-14. The boys will be selected from various football schools and school leagues across the country. FIFA will chart out the guidelines for the scouting process.
The final selection will be done by a team comprising technical director, academy manager and head coach, youth development.
All the selected boys will undergo a two-year stint in the regional academy where accommodation, food and education will be fully covered by the AIFF. Boys from the age group of 16 will be selected from the regional academies for the Elite Academy, the location of which is yet to be finalised.
The tenure in the Elite Academy will be for two years (till the age of 18) from where the boys can move to various clubs after completing their education.
“This is easily the most important and crucial project undertaken by the AIFF in the last few years. I’m confident that it will go a long way in taking Indian football to a new level in a few years time,” said AIFF secretary-general Kushal Das.
AIFF President Praful Patel assured his commitment to ensure its success.
“The AIFF will leave no stone un turned to ensure success of this Project,” he said.