NEW DELHI: The Asian Football Confederation has conferred the All India Football Federation with the AFC Elite Youth Scheme full membership status.
In a letter to Kushal Das, general secretary, AIFF, Windsor John, general secretary, AFC wrote: “We are pleased to inform that your application for full membership of the AFC Elite Youth Scheme has been approved by the AFC Youth Panel.”
“In this regard, we are delighted to confer to the All India Football Federation the AFC Elite Youth Scheme full membership status and the Reliance Foundation Young Champs Academy and JSW Bengaluru FC Academy the two-star Academy status, which is subject to re-evaluation after three years as per Article 6 (Renewal) of the AFC Elite Youth Scheme Regulations and Guidelines.”
Das thanked AFC for “recognising the effort”, stating: “The AFC Elite Youth Scheme has set a benchmark for all Member Associations to evaluate their youth football structure. We are thankful to the AFC for recognising our effort and acknowledge us as a full member of the AFC Elite Youth Scheme. AIFF is working towards fulfilling all the criteria to bolster the youth league structure and further strengthen the quality of footballers in India.”
The AFC Youth Panel evaluates the application of all MAs in twenty areas of core activities which include – leadership, planning, organization, staffing, recruitment, finance, facilities, teams, coaching, playing, player performance, health, fitness, psychology, welfare, education, collaboration, assessment, rules and results.
MAs must fulfil the first eleven criteria to be accepted as a full-member while MAs that meet the first ten criteria will be granted provisional membership.
Das also congratulated RFYC Academy and JSW Bengaluru FC for their respective achievements as well.
“I would also like to congratulate Reliance Foundation Young Champs Academy and JSW Bengaluru FC Academy for receiving a two-star status. Their academies are truly remarkable and have been promising ones to deliver future stars of the sport,” he commented.
Isac Doru, technical director mentioned: “It’s crucial for football development to have more top football academies. RFYC Academy and JSW BFC Academy should be an inspiring story for all new academies in India.”
He further noted that this recognition will add more “responsibility” to the AIFF’s ranks to work vigorously on its youth development structure.
“This recognition has provided the AIFF with a responsibility to work on the youth development concept, especially, the competitive and youth league system that needs to reach new heights at every age level,” Isac stated.
“This recognition will introduce professionalisation of youth residential academy system driven by individual development of players in India.”
The Bengaluru FC Grassroots Development Program, set across Bengaluru and Bellary, has been in operation since the establishment of its BFC Soccer Schools Program in 2014. Over the years, BFC Soccer Schools has added as many as 20 centres across three states, expanding to Maharashtra and Gujarat, in addition to Karnataka.
Further to this, the club has added the U7, U9 and U11 day-boarding academies in Bengaluru, the club’s U13 and U15 Residential setup in Bellary, the U18 and Bengaluru FC Reserve team and the most recent Elite Program, which brings the best children from BFC Soccer Schools under one roof. Several graduates of the club’s Academy now ply their trade with the first team, a pathway that has proven successful for the club’s Youth Development program.
“We are very happy to be given this recognition, and it only increases our responsibility towards Youth Development in the country. We have always maintained that the progress of our Grassroots program and Academy teams is an important marker to the success of the club, and we look forward to setting the benchmark higher in the coming years,” said club CEO Mandar Tamhane.
