India’s first FIFA girls’ academy in Hyderabad | Football News

Kolkata: India’s first FIFA residential academy for girls with 30 players will start in Hyderabad this month. Under a head coach chosen by FIFA, the academy project at Gachibowli Stadium Complex will also have 30 boys. The boys’ cohort will be under-14 and the girls’ under-16. Both categories will have 10 players exclusively from Telangana.

The decisions were announced on Saturday following a memorandum of understanding between All India Football Federation (AIFF) and the Telangana government at the first Telangana Sports Conclave in Hyderabad.

“It is not only the first of its kind in India but also one of the very few globally under FIFA’s Talent Development Scheme,” said Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy. “It is a strong step forward towards our goal of qualifying for the U17 men’s and women’s FIFA World Cups,” said AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey.

To be operational from this month, the project’s cost will be around ₹7.23 crore annually, according to an AIFF official. FIFA will pay around ₹65 lakh which will comprise the head coach’s salary and living cost, the official said. AIFF will pay for the rest of the support staff, around 10 in all, for the boys’ and girls’ academies and it will cost around ₹61 lakh per year.

The rest of the amount, around ₹5.97 crore per year, will be provided by the Telangana government, said the AIFF official. Not authorised to speak to the media, the official did not want to be named. With FIFA, AIFF will fix the training curriculum.

The AIFF official said the head coach, chosen by a team under FIFA’s chief of global football Arsene Wenger, for the academy is expected in Hyderabad on August 26. “The players have also been chosen after trials supervised by AIFF scouts and FIFA representatives,” said the official. A new coach is also likely for the FIFA academy in Bhubaneswar replacing Sergi Fontrodona, the official said.