Guwahati, March 13: Guwahati FC, an offshoot of management discord in the Indian Super League franchise North East United FC, today presented the region with the first overseas football academy by launching its joint venture academy with Clube Atletico Paranaense (CAP) of Brazil.

The Guwahati-based club today announced a three-year tie-up with Delhi-based Anglian Management Group (AMG) and the Brazilian club CAP and the launch of the academy that will be functional from May with a talent hunt programme to scout at least 50 talented youngsters up to the age of 15 years.

Launching the academy, Guwahati FC co-owner Sanjive Narain said: "You can gauge our commitment towards the development of professional football at the grassroots level by the fact that we have launched the academy ahead of even fielding a team in the senior level. Our objective is all-round development of football and not just playing in the I-League or others."

"We propose to produce at least a few players from this talent-rich region for the national team when India hosts the Junior Fifa World Cup in 2017. We'll try to give the best infrastructure logistic support to AMG and CAP's initiatives in the process," he added.

The Brazilian club, which is in a tie-up with the AIFF to groom a national team for the 2017 under-17 World Cup, will provide coaches for short-term camps in the academy and implement coaching programmes in it through designated coaches. The coaches of the academy will undergo orientation courses in the Curitiba-based club's academy and select players will get the opportunity to be trained with their counterparts at the southern Brazil academy.

The AMG, which is also associated with Shillong Lajong FC, that runs an academy for players from the region during the last few years, will facilitate logistical support to the academy through its connections in sports management. "We could see the commitment on the part of Guwahati FC which made us feel that we should support their endeavour," AMG chief executive officer Dhruv Ratra said.

CAP director Luiz Greco, who has been working in Indian football for the 10th straight year, said: "In my stint with Mohun Bagan FC, I could see that the Northeast has tremendous football talent potential. And when we got this opportunity, we were more than pleased to associate ourselves with the venture."

Wishing success to the academy, AIFF secretary general Kushal Das said: "I hope, the initiative will bear fruit in the form of an I-League team from Guwahati in a year or two." Fifa football development officer S. Prabhakaran offered all support from Fifa in the endeavour.

The academy will start functioning initially at the Sector II ground in Noonmati here.