Valerio Ringoli will head Inter Milan’s City Development Centre (CDC) at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, slated to be opened by Italian World Cup winner Marco Materazzi on May 22.
A former youth team player at Inter, Ringoli has played professionally in Italy and Australia and been a part of the club’s coaching setup over the past three years.
Speaking about the importance of the centre, Materazzi told The Hindu : “It’s essential to have strong basics in football and for this it’s necessary to get the opportunity to participate in organised camps, which teach you the best way to approach football and learn the correct technical skills.
“Moreover it will give the kids a chance to showcase their talents to qualified professional scouts.”
The centre, which will act as a feeder to the club’s main residential academy in Hosur (expected to be fully functional by September 2014), will be operated on weekday evenings and weekends, mainly for kids in the age group of six to 14.
Inter has also signed up with five schools in the city for its school outreach programme and 20 kids from each school will be a part of the city development centre.
A similar project will be up and running in Bangalore from June 1, with Hyderabad, Kochi and Mumbai joining the fray soon.
The club, which claims to be committed to grass-root football development in India, plans to select 20 players for a two-month-long training and exposure trip to the San Siro.
“The chosen players will get a chance to experience the European football culture and a lucky few might even get a chance to be part of the Inter youth setup in Italy,” Materazzi said. Aldo Montinaro, director of Inter Campus, who spotted a seven-year-old Edin Dzeko and trained him for two years, is slated to arrive in Mumbai on May 14 and help with the selection of players for the advanced training.
Efforts are also on for organising an exhibition game in the first week of September, involving the Inter Forever (Inter Milan Legends) team, prior to the launch of the Indian Super League.
