PUNE In terms of football brand names, FC Barcelona are tough to beat. On the field, whether in the Champion’s League or Spain’s top league, the La Liga, Barca, as football enthusiasts are prone to drop in colloquial usage, also have been unbeatable.
In pure footballing terms, FC Barcelona opening an academy in Pune is huge news. Come January 2020, Barca will run an academy in Pune, the club’s fourth in India.
A technical director has been assigned by FC Barcelona and he is expected to reach Pune, from Spain, before the commencement of the first set of trials.
Sourabh Shirsat, who has formerly worked with the Paris Saint-Germain Academy and the Barca Academy in Mumbai, will head operations in Pune .
“The phrase ‘football does not do well in Pune’, is nothing but a myth. The number of local grounds, turfs and children who are enthusiastic about football, says it all. There is just a lack of proper infrastructure, but other than that, the city holds great potential. Pune is my hometown and I have played in the PDFA leagues and when I started working with the Barca Academy, I was confident that this project will do wonders for the city,” says Shirsat.
Conscient Football is the company partnering of FC Barcelona in India, and has already tied-up with four schools in Pune.
{{/usCountry}}Conscient Football is the company partnering of FC Barcelona in India, and has already tied-up with four schools in Pune.
{{/usCountry}}Registrations for the first set of trials has commenced.
The first set of trials are scheduled for November 23 and 24 and will be held at four centres - Blue Ridge Public School (Hinjewadi), Don Bosco High School (Yerwada), EuroSchool (Undri), and Loyola High School (Pashan).
A second set of trials will take place in December.
Barca Academy has launched operations in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, and after finalising their presence in Pune, India is now at par with Japan, where there are four Barca academies, and behind leaders China, where there are six, in the Asia-Pacific.
None of this is free of course, and behind the scenes sources tell us that Barca Academy is paying the schools for use of the grounds.
Shirsat is not willing to reveal anything beyond confirming Barca is coming to Pune and that: “Our main aim is to focus on the youth. We want to develop a football eco-system and focus on the grassroots leve.”
The reaction to Barca Academy in Pune has been one encouraging and welcoming. Christanand Vase, head-coach, Sports Excel, a Pune-based football academy, says, “There is a large number of children in Pune who will be benefit due to the good, effective, caring and healthy child-centric training programme. So, it is a positive sign when more coaching enterprises enter the grassroots training with the aforementioned objective.”
Barca Academy in Pune: pre-kickoff highlights
A total of 300 boys and girls to train across all centres in the city (Registrations for trials have already crossed the 1,000-mark)
Indian coaches who hold any AIFF or AFC license can access an exclusive ‘Train The Coaches Programme’, conducted by the technical director