AIFF-FIFA Academies
ashindia
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AIFF-FIFA to set up academies in India
NEW DELHI: Following the visit of the two-member FIFA technical team comprising of Thierry Regenass and Jean-Michel Benezet, the All India Football Federation with FIFA's guidance and support have finalised plans for setting up regional academies and an elite academy.
Regenass is the director, Member Associations and Development Vision, FIFA, and Benezet is the technical director.
In Phase 1 of the Project, four regional academies would be set up in Bangalore (Goal Project), Kolkata (Pailan World School), Mumbai/Navi Mumbai and Delhi/NCR by March 31 2012.
Source :- Times
NEW DELHI: Following the visit of the two-member FIFA technical team comprising of Thierry Regenass and Jean-Michel Benezet, the All India Football Federation with FIFA's guidance and support have finalised plans for setting up regional academies and an elite academy.
Regenass is the director, Member Associations and Development Vision, FIFA, and Benezet is the technical director.
In Phase 1 of the Project, four regional academies would be set up in Bangalore (Goal Project), Kolkata (Pailan World School), Mumbai/Navi Mumbai and Delhi/NCR by March 31 2012.
Source :- Times
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Western India Football Association (WIFA) have decided on Father Agnel’s School at Vashi, which has all the required ingredients with regards to infrastructure, as the first venue for the proposed FIFA-AIFF residential academy.
“Maharashtra has always been at the forefront of supplying quality players to the Indian National team. By hosting the FIFA-AIFF academy in Maharashtra, local players would be provided with a never before opportunity to fulfill their dreams of donning the National colours.
“The facilities provided by Father Agnel’s are top class and most conducive for such an academy. The young footballers would thrive in such an environment and blossom eventually into top class players,” said Henry Menezes, WIFA CEO.
Elaborating on the facilities to be offered by Father Agnel’s, Menezes added, “for this residential academy, Father Agnel’s has agreed to provide boarding and lodging for the selected players at their hostel, the use of the gymnasium and swimming pool, besides their classrooms for technical sessions. They also will put at the academies disposal two practice pitches (one artificial turf & one natural grass) and provide quality education to the selected footballers.”
Dutchman Rob Baan, the Technical Director of these FIFA-AIFF residential academies, appointed by AIFF, along with Kushal Das, (AIFF General Secretary), Henry Menezes (CEO, WIFA) and Souter Vaz (WIFA General Secretary) will further visit Father Agnel’s November 9 to conduct a final inspection of the facilities on offer and provide their stamp of approval.
According to Menezes, 30 kids under the age of 14 would be inducted full time into the academy every two years. FIFA-AIFF would appoint full time officials (coaches and management) to overlook the day to day running of the academy.
According to AIFF Gen Secretary, similar academies are scheduled to also come up in Delhi NCR, Kolkata and Bangalore. He further added that these residential academies are scheduled to begin by March 31st 2012, in time for the commencement of the new schools season of 2012.
Source :- Goal.com
BTW... I know this is off topic but what if the AIFF made an Academy Youth League were each AIFF-FIFA Academy plays each other. They would divide each academy into two teams then those two teams play each other (example: Bangalore Academy A vs. Bangalore Academy B or Mumbai Academy A vs. Mumbai Academy
Then after the season, for the academy products who are aged 18 to 21 we could hold an official I-League Draft were each 18-21 year old is drafted into an I-League team. Each I-League team will each get one pick per round and the draft order will be decided from the previous seasons promoted team. (So the order would be if we used todays I-League would be the 2nd promoted team from the second division would go first in the draft, then the first team promoted get the second pick, then the 12th best team from the previous I-League season goes next, then the 11th then 10th then 9th and so on till we get to the I-League champions who go last. The reason the promoted teams go first followed by the other bad I-League teams is because we would hope that the top 5 players in the draft would automatically make the starting 11 of the I-League team they are on due to those teams maybe lacking quality. I don't know if that would work but this has been tested in Japan but most notably Major League Soccer. And look at the results...
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/news/_/id/6008548/top-10-best-mls-draft-picks-all-time"; onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/news/_ ... s-all-time</a><!-- m -->
This is the list of the best draft picks from the MLS Draft. I don't know if it will work but its a suggestion.
Sorry Ash if I went way off topic here
Then most likely the best players after graduating the AIFF Academy will go to the IMG Academy in America and try to impress scouts and hopefully make the MLS Draft (my prediction with Uttam Rai right now) but if they do go on till 18 in the academy or another higher level academy which could be created in a few years by the AIFF then I would still propose the Draft. Now of course (like in America) the Academy graduates don't have to take part in the draft if they don't want to. They could graduate from one of the academies and try there luck overseas if they wish.
Operation of Each Academy costs about more than 1-2 corer every year don't you think its a waste of 90 players aged 16 who'll have tough time keeping up with their career as a Pro Footballer as there are barely any club which has a good Academy.
If AIFF is planning to start this project then they will have to ensure that all the I-League clubs own an Residential Academy from 2014 atleast,so that these players don't go waste.
Exactly, so far teams like Pune with the Peninsula Academy and United Sikkim FC with there academy are leading the way. I don't know about the rest though.
BTW I am guessing that if we do make an I-League U19 Academy League then the team representing Pailan Arrows would be the AIFF-FIFA Elite Academy because even though Pailan is U19 they still have I-League to do.
Now If our Federation is ready to bear the costs then why bring the clubs into this ? So what clubs have to do is have an Residential Academy for 16-18 years so that they can have ready made U-16 players from various States into their teams and train them further and not let them go waste.
This way we not only save 90 players but also manage to have a big pool of footballers and make sure there is no full stop to their development after graduating from these academies.
Also the U-14 Academies will keep increasing as AIFF has said and we might have 150 more players trained from Chandigarh,Kerala,Goa,Sikkim and Chennai starting from March 2013(<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://zeenews.india.com/sports/football/aiff-fifa-to-set-up-academies-in-india_729121.html"; onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://zeenews.india.com/sports/footbal ... 29121.html</a><!-- m -->).
Mumbai, Nov 8 (PTI) Newly appointed Technical Director of the All India Football Federation, Rob Baan, today visited the Father Agnel School in Navi Mumbai to inspect the venue's suitability for setting up the proposed FIFA (International football federation)-AIFF regional academy.
Dutchman Baan sounded quite happy with the facilities that he came across in the school, including an artificial football turf, natural turf, swimming pool, gymnasium and hostel.
"The facility here has both artificial and natural turf which would help players to have a feel of playing on both surfaces,"he said.
He mentioned that the academy would be a residential one and one amongst the Regional Academies (for age-group 14 to 16) and Elite Centers (for age-group 16-18) where they aspire to groom the best talents from across the state, together.
There would be four regional FIFA-AIFF academies to set up in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata with the best talent progressing to the fifth FIFA-AIFF Elite Academy, in Kolkata.
The aim of the FIFA-AIFF academy is to produce international quality players for the national team and clubs over the next four years with an eye on participation in the FIFA U-17 World Cup.
According to Baan, this roadmap would help in raising the standard of Indian football.
He was accompanied by Srinivas Murthy (AIFFManager National Teams), Pushparagha Chattopadhyay (AIFF Manager Academies and Development), WIFA (Western India Football Association) CEO Henry Menezes and secretary Souter Vaz.
Source :- <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.indiareport.com/India-usa-uk-news/latest-news/1114372/National/1/20/1"; onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.indiareport.com/India-usa-uk ... nal/1/20/1</a><!-- m -->
Tuesday was indeed a remarkable day for sports enthusiasts in the city, as football is taking a new leap with the FIFA AIFF Academy. Robert Baan, the newly appointed technical director (TD) of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) visited Navi Mumbai to finalise arrangements for the newly-planned academy.
Baan who has been appointed as TD for a period of two years is working towards the development of a distinct style of playing football in India. The Fr. Agnel's Sports Complex will form one of the four centres to generate top class football players from India for the international level.
While on his visit in order to have a look at the infrastructure available for the academy, Robert Baan let out a few details about the development of the FIFA AIFF Academy. There will be a special scehduling done for the FIFA AIFF Academy so that their activities do not disrupt the routine school activities after the academy starts operation.
How did you find the facilities and infrastructure here at the Fr. Agnel's Sports Complex?
The most important facility is the field, which is excellent out here. The green pitch is the only one that's in good condition in Mumbai. The accommodation, food and other facilities also are quite good which will facilitate the development of students of the academy. This is the best infrastructure we have in the entire country (better than the other three centres); this will facilitate the academy to train players throughout the year. The four months of monsoons too cannot play spoil sport thanks to the artificial turf laid out here.
What would be the exact stature of this academy?
The FIFA AIFF Academy will be operational from March 2012 and will be a residential academy wherein students will be trained in football and will pursue their education at the Fr. Agnel's Multipurpose School. Thus, we would prepare future footballers in a place that is conducive to everything. There will be three coaches who will be appointed to train the players - a head coach, assistant coach and a goal-keeping coach. There will be nutritionists who will be looking to their diet plans so that their all-round development as a sportsman is taken care of.
How many FIFA AIFF Academies will be there in India?
There will be four regional academies in India, namely in Kolkata, Noida, Bangalore and Mumbai (Navi Mumbai). In addition to these, there will be an Elite Academy that will be stationed at Pailan in Kolkata.
Any selection criteria that will taken into consideration for selecting these players?
I am planning to closely watch the I-league to select players, since that's one place where I think we can get some really potential football players who can make a mark in the national team. A total of 30 to 35 players will be selected to be trained for a year.
What is the age group of players that the academy will focus on?
The academy will focus on four main age-groups that 14, 15, 16 and 17 year olds who will be trained to secure their positions in the senior national teams. The players once admitted into the FIFA AIFF Academy will be trained for two years, and then after analysing their overall development will be sent to the Elite Academy for further training. While, those players whose quality doesn't suffice to that level will be detailed back and will be trained for another two years at the regional academies so that they can get better.
What is the kind of football culture that you will try to create in India?
India does not have the club system, and hence there is no way we can try and establish that system here. However it will be our aim to create a different style and system of play in India which is a huge country and has tremendous potential in order to make it to the FIFA ranking in a few years. One thing that we would be focusing on would be getting the players to play more of 7-a-side matches that will help develop skill.
Here, even kids in the age group of Under-11 are used to playing 11-a-side matches, hence we would encourage kids to start playing seven-a-side games that will help us spot talent.
Baan has a vast experience in football and has been involved in a similar work with the Australia Football Federation. He has also been the Technical Director of the Netherlands youth team. He was briefly appointed a caretaker manager of the senior Dutch team. With his two year Mission India we would definitely see a lot Indian talent on the FIFA world map.
Amen to that!
Source :- DNA