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The AIFF Head of Scouting, Abhishek Yadav’s plan to scout for talent amongst Indian living abroad, who are still Indian passport holders, is set to kick-off in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah on Saturday, June 4.
A preliminary round of selection trials for Indian footballers residing in Saudi Arabia will be conducted from 6am on Saturday, June 4 at the Dunk Ground, near Ikea Store on Tahlia Street in Jeddah.
A total of 16 footballers will be selected from the trials in Jeddah and will travel to India for the final selection trials in August 2016 to pick the India Under-17 boys national team for the 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup to be hosted by India.
Similar open trials for boys born after January 2000 are set to be held in other countries of the Middle East.
The trials are being organized by United Tellicherry Sports Club in association with Geepas as part of the AIFF Overseas Scouting program. The AIFF Middle East coordinator Shanavas will be present besides a local Indian selection committee, which will be led by former player and now coach, P.R. Saleem.
Interested footballers born on and after January 1, 2000, who are residing in Saudi Arabia and hold an Indian passport, they are requested to report at Dunk Ground at 6am on June 4 with their passport or Iqama for the age verification.
Those interested may locally contact Zaheer (0502041841) for further enquiries and details about the trials.
Very important to note is that only Indian passport holders are eligible to play for India as per Government of India rules and regulations. An Overseas Citizen of India (OCI)/Person of Indian Origin (PIO) card holder is not eligible to play for India!
Therefore the AIFF Overseas Scouting program is currently only aimed at Indian passport holders.
If you/your child is a foreign citizen, then you need to obtain an Indian passport to play for any of the Indian national football team(s).
This is really great initiative and it will provide good opportunity for Indian players leaving abroad to represent for their country. I live in Hong Kong and my son is passionate football player as well. I know it’s not practical for India FA to conduct the try outs in all countries but can they host something in India and invite players from abroad to participate in it? My son is only 12 but has some good skills.
It’s a good initiative, in fact good idea for hunting talent. Hope they will come to Bahrain for scouting
As my son who is u15 can take part in it