NYDP is an evolution to youth football

The NYDP is a structured curriculum for all stakeholders of football Youth Development in India. This program is not only meant for the potential and aspiring players, rather it will open up doors of opportunities to play and get trained for all the players who are getting enrolled. Besides informing the audience on the players who just want to play for fun and recreation, the NYDP will also open up new channels to follow and to play at their highest possible level, while they pursue this game as their career option.

The course has been designed with an extensive vision pertaining youth football and it will alos bring a definite pattern in Youth Competitions, Coach Education for Youth Coaches and Referee Education for Youth Referees. All the candidates who are involved in this plan will find the most relevant information regarding talent identification, Youth Training and Coaching and an impeccable match strategy for the youth team. AIFF President Praful Patel in the recent Annual General Meeting had also stressed on the Coach Education and Referees Training. Alongside development of young players, the development of Coaches is also extremely important as they connect directly towards the progress of the youth.

Cashing on to Praful Patel contributions, promising talents are targeted to be rightfully spotted and trained in a professional manner so as to maneuver their efforts towards coaching fraternity more effectively. NDYP is focusing on both the aspects equally to make this course a real success.

Jharkhand wins Coca-Cola Cup

Jharkhand team is basking in joy and thrill as they taste pinch of success with the end of The Coca Cola Cup. This is one of the remarkable tournaments pertaining to the Grassroots level program which ensures to open a lucrative gate of exposure for the young players of the country. This is a tournament which is a grassroots level initiative which would identify and groom young football-ing talents in the country by offering them an opportunity to grow and learn new techniques of the game that is prevalent in present time. 

In a glittering ceremony which marked the culmination of the tournament, the finalists were honoured by Kushal Das, General Secretary of AIFF. Besides there were other dignitaries like Rob Baan, Technical Director, Scot O Donell, Director Academies and Coach Education and Debabrata Mukherjee, Vice President, Marketing and Commercial, Coca-Cola India. In the final match the Jharkhand team was led by Sayad Bin Abdul Kadir and it continued to dominate the Goa team with final score of 8-3. Gaurav Mukhi was named the Player of the Match for scoring 6 remarkable goals.

This tournament is mainly designed for the Grassroots Development Programme which AIFF had begun from the year 2012. The purpose of this tournament is to select the most talented and potential bunch of players and to nurture their aptitude in the most professional manner giving their career a channelized direction. AIFF President Praful Patel has a long trail of history with Indian Football and he has always stressed the need of the training of the young players who one day would be representing the country on a global platform.

Under Praful Patel profile as the AIFF chief, the Coca Cola Cup has been designed with the objective to promote Indian Football at the elementary level and provide the footballers a strong platform to the budding footballers across the country. The promising and the potential talents are to be selected who are to be inducted to Elite AIFF – FIFA Training Academies. This tournament will also play a pivotal role in shaping up the talent and building the National team for participating in the U-17 FIFA World Cup, slated in the year 2017. The players from the tournament will be provided with cutting edge training facilities and will be coached by some of the top most respected names from the world of Football.

I-League and ISL merger is not yet ruled out

All India Football Federation (AIFF) General Secretary Kushal Das has not eliminated the possibility of the merger between franchise based Indian Super League (ISL) and Club Centric I-League in a bid to follow the concept of ‘one country, one league’. While speaking to the media at the launching ceremony of I-League, Das admitted that AIFF has been hosting two ‘national league’ competitions leading to the issues of tight scheduling and player stress factor.

Scheduling has been one of the most crucial factors in case of both ISL and I-League as because there is a problem for the venues. AIFF is working with the endeavour to merge ISL and I-League which might materialize in future, although Kushal Das refrained from giving any firm comments on the matter. India is hosting two national level leagues unlike the global practice of each country having one league.

AIFF President Praful Patel, despite the popularity of Indian Super League, has mentioned in the launching ceremony of ISL that I-League will always remain the premium tournament of the country. The eight-team franchise ISL had been played over two months on a home – away basis followed by double leg semi finals and the final which led some players to complain on the hectic schedules which they had faced along with too much of travelling, insufficient recovery time between matches.

Stephen Constantine is the Head Coach of Indian Team will be a change in the strategy of the AIFF planning. Constantine had held a position of the coach of Indian Team during the tenure 2002 – 2005. Praful Patel profile has been quite strong in this regard as he has been constantly trying to professionalize football and Constantine has done wonders with the Indian team helping it to improve to the position of 120. “We are focusing to come closer to 100 or so in FIFA Rankng in the next two years and qualify for the Asian Cup. Now the format has changed as there will be 24 teams. So we should be able to qualify for Asia cup in 2019.”

The technical committee of AIFF had taken this decision as they felt it was very important to have a person who is familiar with Indian football, who understands the problems and constraints of Indian football. India has big commitments like eight World Cup qualifiers, Asia Cup qualifiers in 2015 and 2016. Stephen Constantine will be the ideal person who would be working with better experience with the Indian Team.

AIFF is also stressing the need of playing more and more friendlies as this would be able to make the relation of the Indian Team easier with their global counterparts. It is expected that Indian Football will grow both in terms of quality and quantity which will help the organization take both a holistic and scientific approach towards the game.

I-League may take tips from ISL

The real defining moment for the I-League will come when the moment of announcing the stadium attendance will have to be announced. During the Federation Cup the best between, Sporting Clube De Goa and East Bengal, match could only sell 150 tickets at a stadium that can officially accommodate more than 19,000 spectators. In the times of the Indian Super League, the audience attendance seems to be quite embarrassing. One of the senior officials of All India Football Federation (AIFF) said that there should be a strong line of marketing strategies. 

Peter, Vaz of Sporting Clube De Goa, commented that the AIFF should give marketing of I-League a serious thought. I-League should take tips from ISL and AIFF should take the help of IMG – Reliance who had publicized ISL so well that it had drawn huge crowds for most matches. AIFF President Praful Patel is putting his best to improve the standards of the I-League which he called the mainstay of Indian Football. The efforts of three Goan clubs and Bengaluru FC cannot be undermined in this regard. 

The three Goan clubs who have joined the brigade are Sporting Clube de Goa, Salgaocar FC and Dempo Sports Club who have devised their own marketing strategy of their own. The promotion plan includes putting up hoardings, road shows, banners, leaflets, player cut-outs at prominent traffic islands in major cities of India. The tickets for the matches have been kept nominal of Rs. 100 for the west stand and Rs. 50  for all the other stands, where as the air-conditioned corporate boxes would be available on demand.

Bengaluru FC, on the other hand, chose to popularize their initiatives through social media marketing to engage their fans and has moved to the recently renovated by Kanteerva Stadium. According to Salgaocar Coach Derrick Perriera said that the standard of the football will be high this year. Under Praful Patel profile as the AIFF Chief, lots of good coaches are coming in and the teams are playing football in a more structured manner. 

Considering their performance at the Hero Federation Cup, Bengaluru FC and Dempo are expected to be engaged in a head-on competition for this year’s title. On the other hand East Bengal and Mohun Bagan depending on what strategies they are taking up off the fields. 

U-19 Elite Academy reach the final round

AIFF Elite Academy sealed their position in the final round of Under – 19 I-League 2015. The credit goes to Rakesh Oram who scored the single most valuable goal against SESA FA. The Elite Academy is basking in joy as they score five consecutive victories in a row. Oram scored his 4th league goal in the 16th minute and his head on action in the most tensed moment has been appreciated all around the football circle. Although the SESA FA tried their best to put themselves back in the game, but it is during the second half of the game the AIFF EA took the entire possession of the game. Despite several changes and introduction in the SESA FA in the middle, the AIFF EA boys maintained their position and protected their lead in the final phase. The AIFF Academy will be facing the Dempo SC in their following away fixture on January 31, 2015. 

The young players seem to have been taking an utmost professional approach and are trying their best to create a more competent team who would be able to represent India in future. The grassroots program has been a ground breaking effort in terms of producing the trained players who would be infused with best practices and modern technical skills along with the best disciplines which are prevalent all across the nation. AIFF President Praful Patel holds high hopes regarding the young players of the nation as he believes with the right kind of effort taken; the young players are going to make it big in the global arena.

Praful Patel contributions behind the success of AIFF and professionalizing football remain unparalleled and have been appreciated even by the recently appointed coach of Indian team, Stephen Constantine. Several initiatives are being taken of which the Indian Super League (ISL) has earned remarkable response from all across the nation as it has surely brought the necessary audience attention which is much required in popularizing the sport in the country.

Stephen Constantine knows Indian sentiments well

All India Football Federation (AIFF) is all set to professionalize the operational mode of Indian Football this year. Stephen Constantine who has been one of the preferred names in the position of Head Coach of the Indian Senior National Men’s Team and National Team of Under – 23. The Englishman will be taking his charge officially from the first week of February 2015. Constantine had been at the helm of affairs with the Indian Team from 2002 till 2005 during which Indian team won the LG Cup in Vietnam and finished as runner up in the Afro-Asian Games. 

Constantine holds a remarkable experience when it comes to coaching the football teams. He had been the coach of Rwandan National Team which under him holding the 68th position in the FIFA Ranking. AIFF President Praful Patel in a recent interview said that the primary focus of AIFF should be work on India’s FIFA ranking which has unfortunately dropped down to the 171 position. According to Patel, it is time to professionalize the team and use the resources in the right direction. 

General Secretary Kushal Das has expressed his happiness regarding Constantine accepting the charge of the head coach. According to Das, Constantine has the previous experience in coaching the Indian national team; therefore, it gives him an edge to handle the team as he would be able to well comprehend the sensibilities of the Indian players. Praful Patel contributions remain to be undaunted when it comes to reshaping the national team with better resources, best practices and technical skills. Under Constantine, the authorities are expecting Indian team to get a better position both in the FIFA and AFC ranking.