FIFA Chief of Global Football Development and legendary coach Arsene Wenger will visit India in October to finalise plans for the setting-up of central academy in the nation, All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Kalyan Chaubey confirmed.
The academy, focusing on U-13 boys and girls, is set to be a collaborative initiative between the FIFA and the All India Football Federation (AIFF), informed AIFF President, Kalyan Chaubey.
“I am glad to say that we are on the verge of setting up a state-of-the-art centralised academy in India, along with FIFA, with Mr Arsène Wenger playing a key role in the whole setup," proclaimed Chaubey through an official AIFF release. He added optimistically, "I am sure that with his experience and our industriousness, we can set the ball rolling for India to produce future stars.”
This ambitious undertaking gained momentum as Chaubey and AIFF's Secretary-General, Shaji Prabhakaran, held discussions with Wenger, FIFA's Technical Director Steven Martens, and Head of High-Performance Programmes, Ulf Schott, in Sydney, Australia.
The envisioned central academy will not operate in isolation. It is slated to be supplemented by approximately four to five feeder academies, thereby creating an interconnected system, the AIFF outlined.
Wenger, with his monumental reputation in football, is scheduled to officially announce this partnership through a virtual press conference in September. Following this, his trip to India in October will be pivotal in ironing out the finer details of this promising academy, shared Chaubey.
Furthermore, Chaubey emphasized the pivotal role of the U-13 Youth League and Sub-Junior National Championships in identifying prodigious talents for the proposed academies. He expressed, "We want to provide more opportunities to our member associations and youngsters... so that each state association can field their best possible team for the U-13 Youth League.”
Adding to this, Prabhakaran voiced his conviction that Wenger's involvement would be transformational in nurturing top-tier football talent in India.
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