Kolkata: Reiterating their commitment and dedication towards a sustainable growth of football in India from the very grassroots, Atlético de Kolkata announced the conclusion of the two months long Grassroot programme for development of young footballers and selection of footballers for the proposed academy. The team management also announced that the final selection will be carried out on 29th and 30th March 2016 at Bidhannagar Municipality ground.
Mr. Utsav Parekh, Co-owner of Atletico De Kolkata quoted a saying,” Our aim is to develop Indian football by bringing up new talents from all around Bengal. The grassroot development is aligned to our commitment made to uplift and scout for the best of the football talent for the future. There is indeed no dearth of talent and potential but channelizing them towards their respective goals is our priority as well as our responsibility.”
This year ATK team management organized 16 grassroot camps all over Bengal where the response was phenomenal from the kids as 2862 young upcoming footballers participated in the camps. 131 footballers in the age group of 13 and 202 footballers in the age group of 12 and below have been called for final selection on 29th and 30th March respectively. In the first phase, 30-40 kids from the Grassroots will be travelling to Atletico Madrid academy in Spain. A team of four Spanish coaches from Atlético de Madrid Academy are in Kolkata to help the Atlético de Kolkata’s coaches in the selection process. The programme will also include ‘Coach the Coaches’ where about 60 coaches from different coaching camps of West Bengal will also participate.
Atletico De Kolkata secretary, Subroto Talukdar quoted as saying, ” We will be setting up hostels, residential educational institute so that they can continue with their education too. A five years time frame is our target. Then after the U-17 World Cup we will look after those footballers to guide them in future.”