Bhuvaneshwar : The All India Football Federation (AIFF) and Government of Odisha, on Tuesday, November 21, 2023, in the presence of Mr Arsene Wenger, FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to set up the AIFF-FIFA Talent Academy at the Odisha Football Academy in Bhubaneswar.
The MoU between the 2 was signed by the AIFF President Kalyan Chaubey and R Vineel Krishna, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Department of Sports and Youth Services, Government of Odisha – Tushar Kanti Behera, Sports Minister of Odisha was present.
Wenger said, “I’m happy to be in India with my team. I saw the facilities and the quality of infrastructure is great here in Odisha. We’ve realised that among 211 countries, most have no real youth education. The best countries have good education system for young children. So, many children don’t even get the chance.
“Giving every talent in the world a chance is what our programme is about. To identify the talent in India, give good education and good level of competition to make great players. How long it could take, we don’t know, but without education we’ll remain where we are. Our target is to get India back on the map. No country has more rights than any other to be on the top. Our huge effort is to educate children to get them as good as they can be. You cannot start to play football at 15, you need to start at five or six.”
