NEW DELHI: New Indian Super League franchise Jamshedpur FC will provide the ideal platform for Tata Football Academy cadets, Jamshedpur FC chief executive Mukul Choudhari told the Asian Age.
Opportunities for TFA cadets to play against top domestic teams have dwindled over the years, he said, pointing out that while around 130 footballers have graduated since TFA began operation in 1987, many have gone one to represent the country and making a name for themselves on the domestic circuit.
“We were always associated with the development of the sport so it was a logical to get into the ISL, to make available a platform for the players, which will help the league develop further. The league is already popular and we thought it is the right moment to step in and leverage from it,” Choudhari told this paper.
There will be no conflict of interest between JFC and TFA, as the new ISL team will function as an extension of what TFA does, he said. “TFA is for youth development. That’s its identity. We will continue with that. JFC is a separate entity. JFC is going to complement TFA so that we have a new extension, a new pathway for TFA. Cadets can now look up to joining JFC. TFA will be a feeder for the main team. Players will have direct opportunity to play in JFC. But TFA will continue to develop players not only for JFC but for everybody. It’s been a nursery for the national team.”
About the TFA preferring the ISL over the I-League, Choudhari said, “The I-League has done good work. But it had to go the next level, for which it is necessary to involve the corporate sector, which can boost the game’s overall development, which I-League clubs were not finding it easy to cope with. So I think it is better to have a franchise-based league. That’s why we stepped in.”
