Bhaichung Bhutia Football Schools

Tom Grevatt, head, SFC Football Development Programmes, Matt Le Tissier, Bhaichung Bhutia and SFC Academy director Andy Martino.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Having worked at the grassroots for 14 years, Bhaichung Bhutia Football Schools (BBFS) on Thursday took another step forward by signing up with Southampton Football Club as its International academy partner, aimed at developing India’s grassroots coaching system.

“As one of India’s largest grassroots football programmes for more than a decade, BBFS has been a feeder for the national team and various I-League and ISL teams but we need more expertise and knowledge to grow further. That’s where Southampton FC comes in with one of the most important aspects being coaches’ education. That will benefit not just BBFS but Indian football in a big way,” Bhutia said here.

With the top brass of Southampton FC Academy present, Bhutia stressed the need to focus on the juniors and various age-group national sides as essential for the growth of Indian football.

“More than the national team, it needs to start with our under-19, 17 and other age-group teams qualifying for and participating in Asian and World Cups on merit. For that, the states, the federation and the ISL and I-League clubs need to invest a lot more at the grassroots because that’s where the players will come from, both in quality and numbers,” he insisted.

Having produced the likes of Gareth Bale, Theo Walcott, Alan Shearer, James Ward-Prowse, Luke Shaw and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain among others, the SFC Football Development Manager Andy Martino insisted that education for players, coaches and parents was crucial for overall development.

“The tie-up will enable BBFS to get full access to SFC Academy’s P^erformance Plan including tactics, strategy and curricula from the under-6 to -16 levels. There will also be exchange and training programmes for both players and coaches both in India and England with players benchmarked at the same level as the trainees back in SFC,” Martino said.

Currently training 2000 coaches annually free of cost, BBFS hopes to further increase this number with the main emphasis of the partnership being on education of coaches with the objective of creating a steady pipeline of world-class coaches.