MUMBAI: The Premier League, in collaboration with the Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL), the UK Department for International Trade (DIT) and broadcaster Star Sports, began conducting the Premier League Football Development Week in Navi Mumbai and Central Mumbai from Sunday. The event will run till Wednesday.
The initiative is a part of the Premier League’s strategic partnership with the ISL which began in 2014. The Premier League Football Development Week, a first-of-its-kind event in India, will feature matches between the youth teams of Premier League clubs Arsenal and Leicester City, the Reliance Foundation Youth Champs (RFYC) and Mumbai City FC as its showpiece event.
The matches will take place at the Reliance Corporate Park in Navi Mumbai from March 5. Alongside these, coaching and small-sided games will be conducted for youth players by Premier Skills Schools, facilitated by ISL coaches.
Navi Mumbai will also be the venue for practical workshops on youth coaching today and tomorrow. The ISL & AIFC Youth Coach Education Training session today will be led by Arsenal FC academy coaches while Leicester City FC coaches will take point on tomorrow’s session.
Over at Central Mumbai, a refereeing workshop will be presided over by Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) senior coach Paul Taylor tomorrow. Later at the same venue, several best practices workshops and interactive panel discussions will be held in the presence of key stakeholders of the Premier League and ISL in order to strengthen and improve holistic development of football in the country.
Leicester City head of partnerships Harj Hir will be present to conduct a session on ‘Club Commercial Sustainability’ later on the day. It will be immediately followed by a session on ‘Investing in Youth and Building a Successful Academy’ led by Arsenal Academy manager Lee Herron.
On Wednesday, the ‘Building a Young Fanbase’ workshop will be presided over by Leicester City community head Allison Tripney, followed by a session on Psych-Social Player Development, led by the Arsenal Academy team.
The event will see some of the Premier League’s most influential figures present in India to share their inputs about the development of football in the country. Some of the most notable figures include Herron, Premier League great Les Ferdinand, and the Premier League’s Director of Football Richard Garlick.
