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The Calendar year of 2017 has been a year of many a first while it comes to Indian Football and participation of not less than 206 teams across the length and breadth of the country in the three age-group competitions has been underlying the right intent of the apex body of Indian Football towards taking the beautiful game of football to every corner of the country.
In pursuit of creating a robust football structure across the length and breadth of the country, the All India Football Federation has always been supportive and encouraging to the Grassroots Football. As many as 206 teams are currently plying their trade across the three different age-group competitions this season which have kicked off in October this year.
Teams from I-league, Indian Super League, Second Division League (as per last year only), Sports Authority of India and accredited academies under the AIFF Academy Accreditation Program are going to participate in the three separate Youth Leagues (U-13, U-15 and U-18 age-groups).
However, it’s the third season of the U-15 Youth League which was rechristened as the U-16 Youth League last season. Moreover, it’s the first season of the U-13 Youth League which will see 70 teams competing for the silverware.
When 80 teams are playing in the U-15 Youth League, 56 teams have been part of the U-18 Youth League competitions.
Speaking on the huge participation in the youth leagues, Sunando Dhar, CEO, I-League earlier commented, “206 is a huge number and it rightly depicts that we’re heading towards the right direction to broad base the youth football across the country.”
Meanwhile, this is the first instance when the AIFF has implemented the ‘Homegrown’ rule which signifies that each of the 206 teams has to register a minimum number of 6 homegrown players in the squad. A player who is born in the same state where the parent club is registered will be tagged as a ‘Homegrown’ player.
Sunando Dhar stated, “This Homegrown rule will not only help us reach out to every nook and cranny of the country but also aid the State associations to build a strong football pyramid. Eventually, it’ll serve its purpose to pick the talents across the whole nation but not from certain pockets of the country.”
