New Delhi: The Project Future India Referees Course, a grassroots development project was inaugurated by Kushal Das, the General Secretary of the All India Football Federation at the Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi on Tuesday.

The best referees during the start of their career from all over the country duly nominated by their states were called for selection for ‘Project Future India-2012’ batch in Jabalpur on January 30-31, 2012. Thereafter, a selection committee selected 30 of them for the PFI-2012 batch.

This batch of 30 shall be under dedicated Referees Instructors and Fitness Instructors for two years and undergo three-four training exposures per year. Referees who show potential for growth after each exposure shall be retained and called for next exposures.

After two years, the best of the lot would be further nurtured through our top level development project for the next two years.

The intention is to produce as many World Class Referees in India by 2016. This is a continous development project and has been launched for the first-time in India.

Pradip Nag, K Sankar, Ms. Bentla D’Coth, and M. K Roy are the instructors for the course. A Sports Psychologist and a Coach would also be involved during the later stages.