AIFF-FIFA Academy: Countrywide Talent Scouting Structure Being Planned

In a joint effort with the Ministry of Education and FIFA, the AIFF desires to use the 'Football 4 School' programme as a pathway in identifying talent, scouting and recruitment for its FIFA-AIFF Academy in Bhubaneswar.

In this regard, AIFF President Kalyan Chaubey and FIFA High Performance Expert Ged Roddy and Philippe Senderos called on Education and Skill Development Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in New Delhi on Thursday to present a blueprint and seek the government's support.

"I'm thankful for the support we have been assured by the honourable Minister for Education Mr Dharmendra Pradhan, the ministry and its nodal agencies without which it will be very difficult to attempt a pan-India scouting programme," Chaubey said in a release.

"We want to go as far as possible, reach every possible 12-13 year talent in our quest to find and horn skills of a home-grown talent. Minister Mr. Pradhan has shown keen interest in our proposal and has assured full support."

According to the release, Pradhan expressed confidence that the integration of 'Football 4 School' as talent scouting platform for the academy will be successful with the commitment of FIFA, AIFF and the Ministry of Education.

"The FIFA-AIFF plan is exciting and something never attempted before at this scale. The Football 4 School programme has already been introduced in 5 states and we wish to take it to every school, every student and every PE teacher."

The Bhubaneswar-based first FIFA-AIFF Talent Academy plans to have an intake of 40-50 best scouted talents per year, over the next three years to enable a continuous scouting inflow in U-13, U-14 and U-15 age categories.

AIFF is also on a lookout to establish five additional Talent Academies in India, for which a combined FIFA-AIFF delegation will visit existing academies in India, by mid-March.