Guwahati, Nov. 28: After hosting the first-ever international football match between India and Malaysia to put Guwahati in the Fifa map of venues, the Assam Football Association (AFA) is now going to implement the joint venture with Calcutta giants Mohun Bagan Athletic Club for development of football in the state.
As part of the initiative that involves exposure tours, the AFA is going to host the Calcutta club’s football academy team for matches with five academies in the state next month.
The Mohun Bagan Football Academy team will leave from Howrah on December 1 for the two-week tour. They will play Gauhati Town Club Academy at Judges Field here on December 3 and travel to Diphu to play Morning Star Football Academy there on December 5. Their next destination is Nazira to play Nazira Football Academy on December 7, then back to Guwahati to play Green Valley Football Academy at Judges Field on December 10 and then play Kokrajhar Football Academy in Kokrajhar on December 12 on their way back home.
The tour was originally scheduled for February.
The joint venture initiatives were supposed to commence with a seminar on Club Management in Football, AFC (Asian Football Confederation) Club Licensing, General Management and Marketing and Communication for the 10 top clubs of the state who participate in the Assam State Premier League here way back in February. However, it was shelved for the time and will be held just before the league, AFA secretary Ankur Dutta said.
Mohun Bagan AC was supposed to depute resource persons for the seminar to present papers on how to manage professional football clubs.
Dutta said the AFA would also send a team on an exposure tour to Calcutta where the club will arrange matches.
According to the AFA’s memorandum of understanding with the Calcutta club, Mohun Bagan AC would provide administrative and technical expertise to the association in its various initiatives like coaching and grooming of talented players by deputing coaches and accommodating state players in the club’s academies.
