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Former Arsenal's legendary coach Arsene Wenger, the FIFA Chief of Global Football Development is all set to visit India in the second week of October. He will finalise the setting-up of a central academy in the country. The academy for the U-13 boys and girls will be a joint collaboration of FIFA and the AIFF. Kalyan Chaubey and AIFF Secretary General Shaji Prabhakaran met Wenger, FIFA Technical Director Steven Martens and Head of High-Performance Programmes Ulf Schott in Sydney, Australia, on Saturday.
"I am glad to say that we are on the verge of setting up a state-of-the-art centralised academy in India, along with FIFA, with Mr. Arsène Wenger playing a key role in the whole setup. I am sure that with his experience and our industriousness, we can set the ball rolling for India to produce future stars." Chaubey said in a release from the AIFF.
Wenger will make an official announcement via a virtual press conference in September, following which, he is set to come to India in the second week of October to work on all other details of the proposed academy.
"The U-13 Youth League and Sub-Junior National Championships will play an important role in spotting talents and setting up the academies. We want to provide more opportunities to our member associations and youngsters as well to organise themselves for the state-level trials so that each state association can field their best possible team for the U-13 Youth League." AIFF Secretary General Shaji Prabhakaran said. AIFF expecting Arsene Wenger to have a significant impact on developing elite players in India.