The AIFF Elite Academy is the elite academy of the overall

AIFF Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF) is an audio file format standard used for storing sound data for personal computers and other electronic audio devices. The format was developed by Apple Inc. in 1988 based on Electronic Arts' Interchange File ...

Academies. Started on 1 February 2013, the Elite Academy was started under a youth development project that was started between the AIFF and FIFA. The Elite Academy is the final frontier for players who train at the AIFF Regional Academies in various parts of India.

History

In September 2011, it was announced that both the

All India Football Federation The All India Football Federation (AIFF) is the national governing body of football in India. It is a member of FIFA, the international governing body of football and affiliated to Asian Football Confederation. It is affiliated to Ministry o ...

and

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

would work together to set up various regional academies and one elite academy in India with the goal to develop footballers in the country. The first phase of planning would see regional academies starting in

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

, and

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

. The Sikkim regional academy, if finished before the end of 2011, would also be added to the first phase. The second phase would see

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

Chandigarh Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which al ...

, and

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

getting academies by March 2013. Each academy would comprise 30-35 under-14 players who would eventually develop to the under-16 level which is what the Elite Academy would comprise. Problems with the academies started early with the Bangalore, Kolkata, and Delhi regional academies delayed while the Mumbai Academy was started with future India U23 coach,

Arthur Papas Arthur Papastamatis (born 12 February 1980) is an Australian professional football manager who serves as manager of Newcastle Jets. Background & Education Papas began learning his coaching skills at the age of 16 while a player and started l ...

, at the helm in Mumbai. The reason given for the delay of the opening of the other regional academies was due to the rampant age-cheating that was going on during trials for the regional academies. Of the 120 players selected after playing in the Subroto Cup and other youth competitions, 84 were found to be over-aged and not even acceptable for the under-16 age category. Eventually the AIFF Elite Academy was launched in 2013.

Squad

References

External links

Elite Academy page on the AIFF website
{{coord missing, Goa Football academies in India 2013 establishments in Goa Youth League U18 Buildings and structures in Margao Football in Goa