IANS

Pune, Jun 9: English soccer giant Liverpool Monday launched its first Football Development Centre in the country at the Bharati Vidyapeeth University campus here in association with Britain-based football business development company Kickworldwide.

The academy will be named "Abhijit Kadam Football Development Centre". Abhijit, who died in a car crash, was the son of Patangrao Kadam, the founder of the University.

Students can enroll themselves for the academy's different football courses, which will be taught in partnership with some leading colleges of Britain. The courses that are on offer are coaching, refereeing, sports science, sports turf technology and football industry management.

Courses in sports science, coaching and refereeing will start from September while the other courses will start from January.

Liverpool coaches will regularly train the students at the academy.

Liverpool commercial director Ian Ayre said: "As a football club we always strive to find important partners and opportunities in a market like India. We have to invest for the long term and in the right areas. As a highly successful football club with great heritage and a historic level of success, this is very much an opportunity to share our experience across all the disciplines of the game, not just the playing side."

Kickworldwide's director Steve Bellis said that the academy will develop more professionals for Indian football.

"The football development centre will create a number of football industry professionals for the game in India and will help to build a strong infrastructure for the sport.

"It is heart warming to see one of world's biggest football clubs adopting such a long term and sincere approach to a developing market. The primary aim of the FDC (Football Development Centre) is to support Indian football development to a level where it can compete with the best in the world," he added.