AIFF Media Team

NEW DELHI: The FIFA Football For Schools (F4S) capacity-building/Train-the-Trainer programmes were held in Bengaluru, Pune and Sambalpur from October 2 to 6, 2023. The programmes was attended by Ms Fatimata Sow Sidibe - Director, FIFA Football for Schools, Mr Antonio Buenano Sanchez - Program Manager, FIFA Football for Schools, Mr Amlan Kamal - Consultant (India), FIFA Football for Schools and Mr Mulrajsinh Chudasama - Chairperson, AIFF Grassroots Committee, and member of the F4S Executive Committee.

Candidates from across the country participated in the two-day programmes, involving seminars and practical sessions, in each of the three locations. The majority of the participants were physical education teachers from Kendriya Vidyalayas, Navodaya Vidyalayas, and State Education Department-affiliated schools.

FIFA President Mr Gianni Infantino had, on October 30, 2022, the day of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Final, co-signed an MoU with the MoE, and AIFF, to launch the F4S programme across India with a goal of reaching 25 million school children throughout the country.

FIFA, AIFF, DoSE&L - MoE and SAI are also working alongside the State Education Depts to distribute over a Million Size 4 Adidas footballs in all 789 districts of India ensuring coverage of NVS, KVS, State Education Department-run schools, CBSE affiliated schools, and other Central Government Schools in all districts of India over the coming months.

The course was mainly based on the FIFA Football For Schools mobile application. The participants were explained how to create the curriculum on the application and conduct practical sessions for the same. They were introduced to several life skills to teach young children while playing/teaching football. The practical session in the ground involved the direct implementation of all the learnings from theory sessions. Basic football drills, skill lessons, warm-up activities, etc. were conducted.

After the end of the programme, Ms Fatimata Sow Sidibe handed the diplomas to each participant. She said, "India is very important to FIFA. We are always ready to help develop football in the best way possible. We have successfully imported 1 million Adidas footballs to India. They will soon be deployed to all the coaches present here and in other parts of the country."

She added, "All participants of this programme will be given assignments to go teach more people what they were taught here in the past two days. The reason we involved Kendriya Vidyalaya, Navodaya Vidyalaya and the local State Government Education Departments is because they have direct reach to the majority of the school-going children in the country. The F4S Programme will cover 211 FIFA member association countries across the world where we are conducting similar programs to help develop the game."