AIFF Media Team

NEW DELHI: The Project Future India Selection Trials Batch 2025 under the Centre of Referees Excellence (CORE) scheme was conducted in three venues in December, 2024 by the AIFF Zonal Referees Development Officers (ZRDO).

The trials were conducted in Kalyani, West Bengal (December 15 to 17), Ahmedabad, Gujarat (December 18 to 20), and Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala (December 20 to 22).

In Kalyani, 16 women and 13 men candidates from East, Northeast and North Zones participated in the trials. While in Ahmedabad, five women and 10 men from West Zone took part, 10 women and 17 men from South Zone were present in the Thiruvananthapuram trials.  

The participants were evaluated on different parameters like fitness, proficiency in the Laws of the Game, along with a practical match and viva voice assessments.

The selected candidates will be under the AIFF Referees department umbrella for two years and will undergo six modules, spanning four days each.

Each module under the project will be a part of a residential programme. Every module is to be handled by the respective Zone ZRDO and AIFF Elite Referees Instructor.

The Project Future India is an initiative to develop a cadre of referees who can excel at the highest levels of the game.

The zonal refereeing development activities will be held across five centres in an effort to make the respective Member Associations self-sufficient in conducting their own referees’ development activities under the ambit of AIFF’s Vision 2047.

Three venues, Kalyani, Ahmedabad and Thiruvananthapuram, have been identified to host Zonal refereeing development activities round the year. Two more venues in North and North East will be finalised later for the same project.