NEW DELHI: Tata Trusts on Wednesday joined hands with La Liga giants Atletico Madrid (ATM) to enhance and strengthen the Spanish club’s existing program for promoting Indian football, Press Trust of India reports.
As part of the deal, the Tata Football Academy (TFA) in Jamshedpur is all set to be renamed as ‘Tata Atletico Football Academia’.
The main objective of the collaboration is to encourage football as a sport at the youth and grassroots level as well as support the Indian national team.
The Spanish club will provide a full-time head coach to the academy, who will work on the structure and curriculum that is followed in the Atletico de Madrid Academia in Spain.
Technical experts will also visit TFA to guide and exchange knowledge on the best practices in various areas such as player recruitments and scouting, video analysis, physiotherapy, facility management and periodic assessments, according to Goal.com.
“The partnership with Atletico de Madrid will enrich grass-root players with best-in-class professional training in all aspects of football. It will help young players train to international standards, scale them up to become future international players and help establish India on the global map of the sport,” Tata Trusts head of program design R Pavithra Kumar was quoted as saying to PTI.
Atletico Madrid owner Gil Marin added: “For our club is an honour to join Tata Group as a strategic partner in this ambitious football development project.
“Both of us share the vision to build a sustainable future for Indian football. We will work together in an educational program based in Atletico de Madrid values and focused in giving opportunities for the kids.”
The collaboration with Tata Trusts will also give budding Indian talented players aged between 12 and 14, a chance to train with other local Spanish cadets in the Atletico academy in Madrid through a residential course. The initial time frame of the program will be three years, which can be extended between six to eight years.
20 candidates will go to Spain in batches in three years. All boarding facilities along with formal education in the top schools where the medium of instruction is English, will also be provided to the players in the Spanish academy.
A scouting team from ATM, ably supported by coaches from Tata Trusts and TFA, has already selected 10 boys from various parts of the country for the program.
This association marks Atletico’s return to Indian football in a larger capacity, having previously been associated with the Kolkata franchise of the Indian Super League (ISL) from 2014-2016. Yet, internal differences between the two clubs made the Sanjiv Goenka-promoted franchise rename itself as ATK from the 2017 season, as the Indian conglomerate exited from the partnership.
However, the La Liga club has indirectly been involved with the Tata Steel-owned Jamshedpur FC this season, recommending its former manager Cesar Ferrando to be appointed for the same position at the Indian franchise. It also provided its Los Ángeles de San Rafael training facilities in Madrid for Jamshedpur’s pre-season preparations.
It remains to be seen if Atletico is involved further with the ISL club, much like it was with Kolkata. The news comes a few days after heads of 18 La Liga teams met in New Delhi, mulling over collaborations with different ISL franchises and the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to expand its presence in the Indian market.
