Indian Super League 2014 champions, Athletico de Kolkata, had the largest group of talented young footballers, 70 from Bengal, attending the Reliance Foundation Young Champs (RFYC) final selection under Dutch expert Marcus Michael Vaessen, named Head Talent Performance Coach.
North East United FC sent 25 (Assam and North-East) was the next biggest group, followed by Kerala Blasters FC (24 from Kerala), Mumbai City FC (20 from Mumbai and suburbs), Chennaiyin FC (17 from Tamil Nadu), 15 each from Delhi Dynamos and FC Pune City, FC Goa sent 14 youngsters.
These footballers were selected through the ISL club grassroots festivals held across the country. Twenty-four footballers in the 11-14 age group were named on Wednesday and scholarships awarded at the launch of the RFYC initiative. These football scholars will be given systematic training and education at the Reliance Foundation School, Koparkhairane, near Mumbai.
The scholarships were handed over to the chosen 24 from across India by Reliance Foundation and Football Sports Development Limited chairperson, Nita Ambani, legendary movie icon Amitabh Bachchan and Maharashtra Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis, on Wednesday at the Jio Garden, Bandra Kurla Complex.
Piet Hubers is Technical Director of the ISL Grassroots Programme. Vaessen is a noted grassroots coach, having worked at NEC Nijmegen. Famous Brazilian striker Jose Barreto is Assistant Coach for the RFYC initiative. The trials were held at Fr Agnel’s ground, Navi Mumbai.
ISL announced cash award of Rs. 1.25 crore to Mumbai City FC for the ‘Best Grassroots Programme’ and received by team owner and actor Ranbir Kapoor. Delhi Dynamos FC got the runner-up award worth Rs. 75 lakh and team owner Sameer Manchanda, received the award.
Nita Ambani, Chairperson of Reliance Foundation and ISL, said: “Young Champs grassroots program is the soul of ISL where we identify promising talents and provide the means to groom them to be the next generation pro footballers. I am happy to see the commitment shown by ISL partners on the grassroots festivals and helping identify talents for the Young Champs final scholarship selection.”
The list of 24 footballers (player name, ISL grassroots team, residing city): Muhammed Nemil V (KB FC, Calicut); Koustav Dutta (ATK, Kolkata); Surojit Ghosh (ATK, Kolkata); Muhammed Basith P.T (KBFC, Calicut), Yashvender Singh (DDFC, Delhi); Mikhil Pramod Patil (MCFC, Mumbai); Subhajit Belel (ATK, Singur); Aritra Das (ATK, Singur); Mustaque Ahmed (ATK, Baruipur); Kumam Basker Singh (NEUFC, Bishnupur, Manipur); H. Gulab (CFC, Chennai); Ayush Chhikara (DDFC, Delhi); Birendra Rabha Singh (NEUFC, Guwahati), Rashid C K (KBFC, Mallapuram); Ningthoujam Zidan Singh (NEUFC, Bishnupur, Manipur); Khangembam Bunando Singh (NEUFC, Imphal); Aviral Malik (DDFC, Gurgaon); Sumit Das (ATK, Kolkata); Aqib Nawab (ATK, Bhadrewar, Bengal); Tanmay Swapnil Karekar (MCFC, Mumbai); Rajibul Mistry (ATK, Kolkata); G Balaji (CFC, Chennai), Tushar Kumar (DDFC, Delhi) and Ranit Sarkar (ATK, Kolkata).
