New Delhi: U Dream Football in a private ceremony today formalised their association with the Haryana Football Association and the Haryana Olympic association, to launch the U Dream Haryana Football Club - the first step in creating a sustainable grass roots development program for football.
Announcing the association, was Mr. Deepender Singh Hooda, President - Haryana Football Association and Mr. P. V. Rathee, Secretary - Haryana Football Association and Haryana Olympic Association along with Mr. Ronnie Screwvala, Founder - U Sports and Mr. Supratik Sen, CEO - U Sports.
The U Dream Haryana Football club, would be home to the boys on returning from the 6 year tenure at the TSG 1899 Hoffenheim academy under the U Dream Football program which was launched last year in partnership with TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. The U Dream program under the collaborative guidance of Bundesliga, was a scouting program based across 1,000 schools in over 45 cities to send 15 boys (aged under 14 years) to Zuzenhausen, Germany and train at the TSG 1899 Hoffenheim academy for a period of 6 years.
Commenting on the association, Mr. Deepender Singh Hooda, President Haryana Football Association said, "Haryana is widely regarded as the sporting powerhouse of the country and their approach towards sports development in India is an example for the rest of the states. The state has always been at the centre of sporting activity in the country and we are glad to be associated with a grassroot development program such as U Dream."
"The U Dream Haryana Football Club is the first of our many programs, we are implementing under the U Dream banner, which we hope will overhaul the country's youth development system in the sport. Over the next few months, we aim to introduce 10 U Dream Excellence Centres across the country that will be staffed with coaches from the German Football Federation to implement a coaching program for children to build a stronger base of candidates for our next U Dream TSG 1899 Hoffenheim Program and to also train coaches across the country, to ensure the scientific delivery of football coaching at the grassroot level as well as raise the overall standards of football coaching in India." shared, Supratik Sen, CEO, U Sports.
With 17 Students identified for the U Dream - TSG Hoffenheim Football program for the first year, the program is sure to attract a lot more candidates the following year in appreciation of a rare opportunity to train in a world-class football environment over an extended period of time.
"A nation's progress is often defined by its sporting prowress and its private - public partnerships such as this that ensure a grassroots development of sport - a need for the overhaul of sport in the country. We are grateful to the Haryana Football Association for their support and are reassured by their enthusiasm and proactiveness that this indeed is an extremely strong partnership that will truly benefit the Indian footballer." Concluded, Ronnie Screwvala, Founder U Sports.
The 17 students identified this year are:
1) Pranav Kanse - Kolhapur
2) Akash Mishra - Lucknow
3) Pradeep Mannewar - Udaipur
4) Aniket Varekar - Kolhapur
5) Shivam Maan - New Delhi
6) Kumar Rathod - Mumbai
7) Ayush Adhikari - Noida
8) Ankit Bhuyan - Bhubaneshwar
9) Ishant Rana - Mumbai
10) Raul Lewis - Mumbai
11) Armaan Kalra - Gurgaon
12) Delton Colaco - Goa
13) Kimran Fernandes - Goa
14) Wellyster Mendes - Goa
15) Manish Malyadri Siddha - Pune
16) Deepak Barda - Orissa
17) Sunil Murmu - Orissa
From the above 17 students, 15 boys are on complete scholarships and 2 are on partial scholarships. The first 15 boys will leave for Germany this month, The last two boys hail from a tribal community in Orissa and are currently studying in Bhubaneshwar, will leave a few weeks later, since they're in the process of applying for their passports.