For coaches with technical knowledge

Pune FC has already started an academy,while Venkys has outlined plans to start one of its own,with coaches flown in from Blackburn.

Five years ago,nobody would have called Pune a football hotbed. Since then,however,three major events have changed the face of sport in the city the formation of Pune FC in 2007,staging of the Commonwealth Youth Games,an event that gave the city an international-class football venue,a year later and takeover of Blackburn Rovers by Venkys last year.

Pune FC has already started an academy,while Venkys has outlined plans to start one of its own,with coaches flown in from Blackburn. Hidden amidst all this activity,the Abhijit Kadam Football Development Centre,tucked away at the Bharati Vidyapeeth varsity campus,is attempting to trace a rather different trajectory,with help from a couple of very distinguished English friends the FA,the worlds oldest football governing body,and Liverpool FC.

AKFDC,launched last year,is the only centre in Asia that offers coaching and refereeing certificates from the English FA. We have conducted four batches of the FA Level 1 coaching course already,and one batch of their refereeing course, says Kuldeep Gaikwad,director,AKFDC. In August,well be holding our first Level 2 coaching course. Later,we will introduce the UEFA B licence as well.

This is a notable development since India has a shortage of certified football coachesmost are former players who have segued into coaching without gaining qualifications to impart up-to-date technical and tactical knowledge to the next generation of players.

We dont have the kind of trend thats happening in a place like the UK,where even housewives and bankers enroll for coaching courses in their spare time, says Rohit Kulkarni,faculty,AKFDC.

Already,as many as 70 aspiring coaches have taken the level 1 course. The All India Football Federation,meanwhile,nominated 10 referees from across the country to form the first batch of the refereeing course.

The tie-up with Liverpool,meanwhile,is at a fairly embryonic stage at this point. Eventually,though,the plan is to launch an academy with Liverpool providing the technical expertise. As of now,our focus is on the coaching and refereeing programmes,and also the launch of the diploma programme, says Gaikwad.

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This course in sports science will see AKFDC joining hands with Southgate University,London. Our first batch will begin this year , says Kulkarni.

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For coaches with technical knowledge

Pune FC has already started an academy,while Venkys has outlined plans to start one of its own,with coaches flown in from Blackburn.

Pune FC has already started an academy,while Venkys has outlined plans to start one of its own,with coaches flown in from Blackburn.