MUMBAI: Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), which runs India’s premier football league, the Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL), has rolled out the Hero ISL Children’s League.
The ISL Children’s League initiative was announced in August 2019 ahead of ISL season 2019-20. Following the announcement, the league saw the soft launch in November.
Aimed at children aged between 6 to 12 years, the ISL Children’s League is set on basic principles of providing ample play time opportunities ‘in-your-own region’ and identifying next generation talents for Indian football. Through the Children’s League initiative, FSDL aims to develop a structured and competitive grassroots football ecosystem, engaging with children through increased participation, greater volumes of matches and game time.
Into its first year, ISL Children’s League is being conducted in West Bengal, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh. Over 14,000 children are currently enrolled in four age categories of U6, U8, U10 and U12. The action will be seen in Itanagar and Pasighat districts in Arunachal Pradesh; Shillong and Laitkseh in Meghalaya and six districts of West Bengal i.e., Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas and Nadia.
The season is expected to conclude in the second week of March with the completion of scouting and selection of promising young talents.
FSDL will also set up a regional Centre of Excellence for the best performing children from the Children’s League in Kolkata by June. The Centre of Excellence will serve in nurturing and developing the selected young talents with expert coaching and an established football curriculum.
Over the next three years, FSDL will expand the Children’s League to 12 States with an aim to engage 40,000 children, thus creating and establishing a strong grassroots ecosystem in the country offering a large pool of young talent.
