Question : Football Talent

(a) whether in the Indian Premier Football Leaguecompetitions clubs often hire players from abroadspecially from Africa which has surfeit of football talentto be sold abroad;

(b) whether promising football talent abundantlyavailable in the North eastern States is not in muchdemand as the players from overseas and if so, thereasons therefor; and

(c) whether the Government will come forward toestablish soccer academies in each of the North EasternStates specially in Meghalaya, Mizoram and Manipur sothat these academies prepare and deliver budding soccertalents to major football league in the mainstream centres?

THE MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE)
FOR YOUTH AFFAIRS AND SPORTS
[SHRI KIREN RIJIJU]

(a)& (b): Promotion of specific sports discipline is the responsibility ofthe concerned National Sports Federation (NSF). For promotion anddevelopment of sport of Football at national level the Governmenthas recognized All India Football Federation (AIFF) as the NSF. As per AIFF, it is a common practice globally where foreign players are drafted in teams. However, recently there has been huge reduction in appearances in the Indian National Football League (I-League) and Indian Super League (ISL) as per the tournament regulations in hiring the foreign players by the clubs and there are more Indian players in the teams than the foreigners. Mostly the clubs rely on players coming from the north eastern States. The players from north eastern States are part of the leading ISL / I-League clubs and also of National teams / Academies of AIFF.
(c) Under the Khelo India – National Programme forDevelopment of Sports, various initiatives have been undertaken tosetup training facilities across India including the north eastern States.Academies are accredited for support under the vertical ‘Support for National/Regional/State Academies’. The following accredited academies having football discipline under the Khelo India Scheme are operational in north eastern States:-
<pre>
State Accredited Academies
Assam National Centre of Excellence, Guwahati
Manipur National Centre of Excellence, Imphal </pre>

Apart from this, the following Khelo India Centres (KICs) are operational in the north eastern States for various disciplines including football:
<pre>
State Name of KICs in football discipline
Arunachal Pradesh (i) Changlang District, Miao, Changlang
(ii) Independent Golden Jubilee HS School, Passighat, Siang
Manipur Th. Birachandra Singh Football Academy, Imphal
Nagaland Greenwood School, Village Kuda, Nagarjan, Dimapur
Tripura Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council, Khumulwng </pre>

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