If your little son is keen on playing football, here is an opportunity to play the game competitively near home.

A league is starting in Salt Lake in early December where teams will play in two age groups — under 9 and under 11. Liga Prodigio will be organised in association with the Bidhannagar Municipal Sports Academy, under the All India Football Federation. The duration of the league is expected to be around four months with matches being held at the Bidhannagar Municipal Sports Complex in Central Park and at the AE Part 1 ground which has been renovated.

“Children today are engrossed in sedentary pastimes like video games or mobile phones even in the afternoon. If they can be drawn to physical sports and kept engaged for four months they will continue with the habit the rest of the year as well,” said organiser Aparup Chakraborty, an accredited AIFF match commissioner who is a resident of BL Block.

In the inaugural edition, eight teams will play in either of the two age groups. There will be 56 matches played in each category. The matches will be five-a-side for under-11 and six-a-side for under-9. “This will become an annual fixture. At this level, the coach acts as the referee.”

The inaugural league is already seeing encouraging response. The sports academy has booked four slots among the eight teams. A team from Burdwan has confirmed participation. Mohun Bagan will inform next week if they will send a team. “We have kept entry free this year,” said Chakraborty.

Aparup Chakraborty Mayukh Sengupta

Similar baby leagues are being started in Kalyani and Tribeni as well. “While they are called baby leagues, here we chose the Spanish name Liga Prodigio instead of Bidhannagar Baby League to make it special for young fans of the Spanish league La Liga in which Lionel Messi plays,” said Chakraborty.

Of course, children cannot directly enrol to play in the league and will have to come through a team that registers to play. Bidhannagar Municipal Sports Academy takes in children from the age of six and coaches till the under-16 stage. “Currently we have about 200 students,” said a civic official. “Earlier we used to divide them into teams and play intra-academy matches. From this year, we have signed up for both the baby league and the under-15 and under-18 leagues of the AIFF. The slightly senior players come from as far as Barasat, Sodepur and even Burdwan but the little ones are from around Salt Lake.” The academy, founded in 1999, competes in Junior I-League and has produced professional club footballers, including Prosenjit Chakraborty of Mohammedan Sporting who has also represented India at the under-17 level. Coaching fees are Rs 200 per month at the junior level.

The children at the academy are thrilled to learn about the upcoming league. “My son is making sure he does his homework quickly so that he is not stopped from attending practice. He is refusing to stay home even if he has fever,” laughs Sanjay Giri, father of 10-year-old Soumo.

Sanchari Dey brings seven-year-old Samadrito from Dum Dum Cantonment thrice a week. “We had put him in a local coaching camp at the age of four. He is coming here since he was six. It’s a wonderful idea to start the baby league. If more talent comes up locally perhaps the big clubs will stop hiring foreign players.”