MARGAO
The All India Football Federation (AIFF) in association with Sports Authority of India (SAI) will conduct a scouting project for Indian boys born between 2001-2003 in Dubai, on January 26.
This will be the second such initiative to be conducted in the UAE after the first project in June 2016 received a rousing response from the Indian community over there. The AIFF will be looking for talented Indian players who are ready to bolster India’s junior national teams, including the U-16 team which will participate in the AFC U-16 Championship 2018.
The trials will be conducted by the AIFF-SAI scouting team led by former National Team India Captain and Director of AIFF’s Scouting Network, Abhishek Yadav along with the technical staff of the AIFF U-16 team. AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das said that the Dubai trials in 2016 that attracted 240 Indian players were a success at many levels and ‘the AIFF wishes to build upon the momentum for football created by the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup’.
“The upcoming scouting round will be all the more significant because we have chosen the Republic Day to kick start the event,” said Das. He also thanked the Sports Authority of India, the Consul General of India (Dubai) and the local venue partners for their support.
“We have two interesting projects going on in Indian football, Indian Arrows with U-19’s playing in the I-League and the U-16 National team which has taken off on a foreign-exposure campaign ahead of the AFC Championship in September 2018 for which India qualified on merit,” added Das. “Also, with the 2001 “ 2003 boys age-group, we are essentially preparing for FIFA U-20 World Cup 2021 and Olympic Games 2024,” Das elaborated.
Abhishek Yadav, who is also the Director of National Teams aired his positivity surrounding the project, saying: “The last time we invited five players to join the camp apart from a few others who showed a spark for the future. Beyond the talent itself, the attitude of several parents was something that gave me confidence that an Indian player residing in the UAE could break into an Indian squad.”Talented players who hold Indian passports while residing in Gulf countries and aspire to for play for India are qualified to attend the trials if they fall in the required age-bracket.Interested players should report for trials as per their category on January 26. No new registrations will be accepted on the other days.
