BHUBANESWAR: The All India Football Federation (AIFF) on Wednesday said an AIFF-FIFA academy, a world-class football academy, will be launched here on November 21. It will come up under the FIFA Talent Development Scheme (TDS).
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday in a X post expressed his happiness that FIFA has chosen Bhubaneswar to set up India’s first AIFF-FIFA Talent Academy to nurture football talents in the country. “Odisha government is committed to provide all support for growth of the sport and we are working in close partnership with AIFF to create the best facilities for our football players,” he added.
The FIFA TDS is a programme aimed at collaborating with different member associations across the world to increase the competitiveness of their national teams. The FIFA has also rolled out its Talent Coaching Programme, with which it intends to provide active on-ground support to the member associations, said the AIFF official sources.
The academy will be inaugurated by Arsene Wenger, the chief of global football development, FIFA.
AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey said their efforts would be to build this academy into a flawless one. AIFF acting secretary general Satyanarayan M said investing in youth below 14 is perhaps the greatest start. “We will start working on such similar endeavours in other parts of the country to ensure talent does not get overlooked,” said a statement of the AIFF quoting Satyanarayan M.
State sports secretary R Vineel Krishna said they are excited that Bhubaneswar has been selected for the FIFA Talent academy. “We are working in close partnership with AIFF to create the best facilities for our football players,” he added.
Official sources said FIFA has recommended Sergi Amezcua Fontrodona as the FIFA-trained coach to implement the project and act as the head coach at the FIFA-AIFF academy.
