FEATURE - INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL 2012
SPECIAL EDITION - NOV 2012
THE
FOOTBALL LINK IN THE PIPELINE | 25
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INTERNATIONAL CLUBS | 5
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SOCIAL INITIATIVES | 9
TRUE TO THE PLAYER. TRUE TO THE GAME.
This magazine aims to highlight the opinions and interests of football lovers across India. This special edition covers TheFootballLink International Festival 2012 held at the Thyagaraj Stadium, New Delhi from the 6th to 13th of October. By spreading the message of football, TheFootballLink provides a platform for football enthusiasts to connect with each other and organize various initiatives in football; to support, participate and contribute to the growth of the game.
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CONTENTS PRELUDE 01
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LEGACY OF INDIAN FOOTBALL
An insight into the glorious past of Indian football
F E AT U R E 05
INTERNATIONAL CLUB PARTNERS
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AC Milan Junior Camp, Italy & Manchester City Football Club, England
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An overview of the contributors to the International Festival 2012
MEDIA COVERAGE
The largest football festival ever organized in India
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15 TESTIMONIALS
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International Coaches, Scouts & Agents sharing their experiences
CYCLE OF FOOTBALL
Business, Social & Performance aspects of Football
INSIGHT 21
PAST INITIATIVES
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BOOK PREVIEW Stop Dribbling, Pass Now!
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IN THE PIPELINE
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Initiatives organized by TheFootballLink
Find out what the future holds in store for TFL
SPOTLIGHT 27
CAN FOOTBALL A campaign revolving around 6 questions to
highlight ways in which football can benefit our country
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Legacy of Indian Football F
ootball started its journey in India when the British rulers brought it with them and in no time, it became popular among the masses. The first recorded game held in India took place between the Calcutta Club of Civilians and The Gentlemen of Barrackpore in 1854. The first ever football club in the history of Indian Football, the Calcutta FC was established in 1872. In 1898, the oldest in India and also the third oldest football tournament in the world, the Durand Cup football tournament was started in Shimla. The first mentionable achievement for the Indians in Football came in 1911, when Mohun Bagan AC became the first Indian team to win the
IFA-Shield Trophy. The AIFF got affiliation from the international governing body for Football, FIFA in 1948 and it was also one of the founder members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in 1954. The period from 1951 to 1962 is considered the golden era in Indian football. Under the tutelage of legendary Syed Abdul Rahim, India became the best team in Asia. The Indian team started the 1950s with their triumph in the 1951 Asian Games which they hosted. India then went on to finish second in the 1954 Asian Games held in Manila. At the 1956 Olympic Games they finished fourth, which is regarded as one of finest achievements in Indian football.
Latest in Indian Football India has hosted its first-ever international football friendly with Argentina beating Venezuela one-nil in the eastern city of Calcutta. BBC World | 2 SEPTEMBER 2011 Tata Tea team wins Under-15 crown in Arsenal tourney ZEE NEWS | 7 SEP 2011 India defeat Afghanistan to retain the SAFF Cup NDTV | 11 DECEMBER 2011 Bayern Munich make Baichung Bhutia testimonial an occasion to cherish for life TIMES OF INDIA | 11 JANUARY 2012 FC Barcelona sets up football school in Delhi SPORTSKEEDA.COM | 16 MAY 2012 India rejoices at Nehru Cup treble FIFA.com | 3 September 2012 1
Didier Drogba visits Delhi for the Pepsi T20 Football Tournament Grande Finale TIMES OF INDIA | 18 JUNE 2012 Bharti Airtel and Manchester United to kick-off youngsters’ football dreams ECONOMIC TIMES | 26 JUNE 2012 Football Link International Festival kicks off INDIAN EXPRESS | 9TH OCTOBER 2012 Diego Maradona arrived in Kerala to a tumultuous welcome THE HINDU | 24 OCTOBER 2012 Luis Figo to don Goa colours in friendly TIMES OF INDIA | 28 OCTOBER 2012 IMG-Reliance in talks with Chelsea to develop football academy in India ECONOMIC TIMES | 10 NOV 2012
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Fasdasda
Hindustan Times presents
TheFootballLink
International Festival 2012
T
he success of Football relies on how effectively its message can be spread to the billion people across India. These festivals and talent scouting initiatives act as a communication platform to spread this message and at the same time gives an opportunity to everyone across the country to benefit from football. The Football link International Festival 2012 was the largest Football Festival ever organized in India and saw the participation of more than 5000 football players. The festival was organized in partnership with AC Milan Junior Camp, Italy & Manchester City Football Club, England. There were multiple tournaments featuring more than 400 teams - 80 team School Championship, 64 team Corporate Championship, 256 team F-cube College/Club Championship, 8 team NGO Tournament - Coaching & Scouting camp and various Social initiatives revolving around underpriviliged children. The success of the festival was due to the combined efforts of the Delhi Soccer Association (DSA), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Hindustan Times, Turkish Airlines, Rishi Narain Sports Marketing, Blackberry, Coke, Hero, Sara Towels, Special Olympics Bharat, Literacy India, Prive Networks, Thyagaraj Stadium management & staff, Delhi Development Authority Sports and numerous other supportors and contributors of the festival.
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Fasdasda AC Milan is a professional Italian football club playing in the Serie A. They are one of the world’s most successful football clubs with 18 international trophies officially recognized by UEFA and FIFA. Domestically, with 18 league titles Milan is the joint-second most successful club in Serie A.
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Fasdasda Manchester City Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Manchester, England. They are the current title holders of the English Premier League and have become a force to reckon with under the leadership of coach Roberto Mancini. They boast a star studded lineup including David Silva, Mario Balotelli, Carlos Tevez, Yaya Toure, Vincent Kompany amongst others. 6
Fasdasda Manchester City FC academy coach Nick Cushing conducting a drill during the Coaching & Skill Evaluation Camp
Fasdasda The finals of the 256 team FCube Championship between Delhi Leo’s and ISS Football Club
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Fasdasda Winners of the School Girls Championship - Modern School,
Barakhamba Road (red) in action against Bharti Public School, Mayur Vihar
Fasdasda Corporate teams of AIFF and IBM competing in the league stage of the 64 team Corporate Championship
Fasdasda Two players fighting for possession during the Fcube Championship qualifiers
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Flower for a Child
Fasdasda A healthy and spirited life through physical activity is essential for the holistic development of children. A sport like football is a highly effective tool to nurture a child’s physical, psychological and mental development while also building valuable social connections in a fun environment. To ensure that underprivileged children can also benefit from football, TheFootballLink has initiated ‘Flower for a child’ social campaign to enable these children to participate in all our initiatives. As part of this social campaign, hand crafted, eco-friendly & sustainable Japanese clay flowers are sold to raise funds for equipment and coaching support of these budding footballers. These flowers have a lifetime of more than 20 years, and serve as a reminder of the joy that society collectively can bring about on an underprivileged child’s face.
Fasdasda In the festival, 8 NGO teams participated in the NGO tournament with Literacy India emerging as the winners. 75 talented NGO children also participated in the Coaching & Skill Evaluation Camp conducted by the International Coaches
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Fasdasda AC Milan coach Danilo Tedoldi conducting a shooting drill with
children from the Salaam Baalak Trust during day 4 of the coaching camp
Fasdasda Participants queuing to collect their prize money and certificates at the final day of the festival
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SPONSORS/PARTNERS Hindustan Times is one of India’s most respected and leading English dailies. Hindustan Times has been pioneering trends in journalism, setting standards and breaking new ground for the last 80 years. Spurred by the leading faces of Indian journalism, Hindustan Times has evolved with the times, reflecting the changing India and is today the newspaper of choice of over 3.7 million Indians.
Turkish Airlines is the national flag carrier airline of Turkey, headquartered in the Turkish Airlines General Management Bakırköy, Istanbul. It operates scheduled services to 163 international and 41 domestic cities (38 domestic airports), serving a total of 204 airports, in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
Hero is the world’s largest manufacturer of two - wheelers, based in India. In 2001, the company achieved the coveted position of being the largest two-wheeler manufacturing company in India and also, the ‘World No.1’ two-wheeler company in terms of unit volume sales in a calendar year. Hero MotoCorp Ltd. continues to maintain this position till date.
Research In Motion (RIM) develops integrated hardware, software and services that support multiple wireless networks. RIM is best known for creating the BlackBerry® smartphone and providing solutions that allow seamless, mobile access to time-sensitive information through email, phone, text messages, the Internet and applications.
The ‘NDTV - Coca-Cola Support My School’ campaign was initiated in January 2011 with a vision to address issues such as access to drinking water, sanitation and infrastructure facilities in schools and to create healthy, active and happy environment at schools. The campaign has touched the lives of over 43,000 children across 10 states in India, while helping to significantly reduce dropouts and absenteeism and also increase enrolments in the revitalized schools. 11
Established in 1927, FICCI is the largest and oldest apex business organisation in India. A non-government, not-for-profit organisation, FICCI is the voice of India’s business and industry. FICCI draws its membership from the corporate sector, both private and public, and enjoys an indirect membership of over 2,50,000 companies from various regional chambers of commerce.
Rishi Narain Sports Management Pvt Ltd (RNSM) is a company engaged in partnering leading corporates in profitably growing their businesses through Marketing & Brand Positioning solutions using sports as the communication platform.
Yatra.com is India’s leading online travel company. Positioned as a brand “Creating Happy Travellers”, it provides information, pricing, availability, and booking facility for domestic and international air travel, railway reservation, hotel bookings, holiday packages, buses, and car rentals.
SARA GROUP
Indian roots. Global reach.
Sara Textiles Limited (STL) is the third largest producer of terry towels in India and exports its products to Europe, USA, Australia and the Middle East.
Football First India is a leading football coaching company with a focus on developing grassroot level football in India. They aim to promote a healthy lifestyle among individuals, introduce world class coaching methodologies and encourage the partipaticipation of girls & underprivileged children in football.
Delhi Soccer Association (DSA) is the premier association governing football across the Delhi and NCR region and is a member body of the All India Football Federation.
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MEDIA COVERAGE ‘Chetan Misra, 30, is a football enthusiast who tapped into India’s boom of cultivating champions’ TEHELKA MAGAZINE ‘FootballFirst plans to hold tournaments for even younger kids to discover India’s very own Messi’s and Rooney’s’ CNN-IBN ‘FootballFirst Sports, a young budding company aiming to promote the beautiful game’ THEHARDTACKLE ‘TheFootballLink – aimed at bringing together all the pre-requisites for the growth of the sport at grassroots levels in the Capital’ THE ASIAN AGE ‘Largest ever display of football talent in the country’ SPORTSKEEDA.COM ‘Over 4,000 football players of all age groups come together to take part in the largest football festival of the country’ JET AIRWAYS INFLIGHT MAGAZINE ‘Enjoy a week of football at the Thyagraj Stadium’ SUNDAY STANDARD ‘World Class Coaching at the FootballLink International Festival’ HINDUSTAN TIMES ‘AC Milan and Manchester City coaches to train children in Delhi’ TIMES OF INDIA ‘TheFootballLink International festival kicks off ’ JANSATTA ‘The largest football festival in the country kicks off ’ NEWS.LOTSBUZZ.COM
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‘Former AC Milan player Claudio Balesini said that focus would be on identifying players with potential’ NDTV SPORTS ‘TheFootballLink International Fest kicks off ’ THE INDIAN EXPRESS ‘Top international coaches to train kids of the Capital’ STATESMAN ‘TheFootballLink International Festival with AC Milan & Manchester city scouts begins today’ BUSINESS STANDARD ‘Week long football showcase begins at the Capital’ THE SPORTSMIRROR.COM ‘Footballing Mega Event with multiple tournaments to begin this Sunday’ HINDUSTAN TIMES ‘Coaches from Manchester City and AC Milan lined up for the TFLIF’ AMAR UJALA ‘Exciting week long Football Festival’ DAINIK JAGRAN TheFootballLink International Festival ends with a bang’ PUNJAB KESARI ‘The Week long TheFootballLink International festival ends today!’ MAIL TODAY ‘Week long football extravaganza with International Coaches in Delhi’ CURRICULUM MAGAZINE ‘Football festival with a social difference’ YAHOO! NEWS
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‘I think the country has real potential for elite players due to their passion for football, its large population and their desire to learn and take on new challenges’ LEWIS CHILDS Academy Coach at Manchester City Football Club
‘The Football Festival was very well organized and all the local staff was very professional and prepared. Surely it is an event that can bring a certain importance to football in India and give a huge opportunity to the kids to improve their skills in this sport’ DANILO TEDOLDI Former Inter Milan player and currently works as a technical manager of the AC Milan Junior Camp
‘Such festivals are very important to encourage talent at the grassroot level. The kids displayed excellent potential, talent and enthusiasm. The model is great and the whole festival including the training camps were well organized’ NICHOLAS CUSHING Academy Coach at Manchester City Football Club
The Football Link International Festival was great and the presence of top coaches made the event even ‘The Festival great and the presence of topallow coaches madefootball the event even moreFootball exciting.Link For International sure, it is an event thatwas must be repeated, as this would indian to grow. more Foropportunity sure, it is anfor event be to repeated, as this would from allowcoaches indian football to grow. Also, exciting. it is a great kidsthat andmust talents have more visibility and scouts from Also, it is a great opportunity for kids and talents to have more visibility from coaches and scouts from abroad. abroad’ GIANLUCA MARINI GIANLUCA FIFA Agent &MARINI founder of GMSA FIFA Agent & founder of GMSA
‘I think this event was a great success and a very good promotion of football in India. I noticed a good level of ability from a technical\tactics point of view and very good physical skills of participants, which surprised me a lot. Certainly, football in india will grow gradually in the near future and this will be depend a lot on the coaching level and on what kind of investments can be done in order to support the development of football in this country’ CLAUDIO BALESINI Former proffesional football player who works as a football trainer and supervisor with AC Milan since 2006
‘The Football Link International Festival was a very exciting event, that could give a big opportunity and huge exposure to local players, giving them the opportunity to improve their skills under the supervision of top coaches from AC Milan and Manchester City. This initiative was very important for Indian Football and could give a great opportunity to unprivileged kids to enjoy and an opportunity for coaches to see new talents. I hope this Festival will keep growing and that next edition will be even more successful’
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DEBORA ZOLI Player Agent
TheFootballLink International Festival 2012 5000+ FOOTBALL PLAYERS 2560 GOALS 800+ PARENTS 450 FOOTBALL KITS 155 UNDERPRIVILEGED KIDS 150 COLLEGES 120+ INDIAN COACHES 100+ MEDIA COVERAGE 80 MEDALS 72 SCHOOLS 65 HOURS OF LEARNING 64 CORPORATES 40 REFEREES 35 BEST PLAYER SHIELDS 20 TROPHIES 8 NGO PARTNERS 7 DAYS 6 AGE GROUPS 4 INTERNATIONAL COACHES 3 SKILL EVALUATION CAMPS 2 INTERNATIONAL CLUB PARTNERS: MANCHESTER CITY FOOTBALL CLUB AC MILAN JUNIOR CAMP 1 BEAUTIFUL GAME
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1.
INVEST INTO A SPORT [MONETARY & HUMAN RESOURCE] FOOTBALL PLAYERS: TRAINING EQUIPMENT INVESTORS: EQUITY LOANS FANS: ENTERTAINMENT MERCHANDISE GOVERNMENT: INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT SOCIAL WELFARE CORPORATE: ADVERTISING BRAND BUILDING CSR
5.
CYCL
FOOT
A PERFECT BALANC PERFORMANCE, SO ASPIRATIONS OF
GENERATE REVENUE FOR FURTHER INVESTMENTS
4.
CONVERT FANS INTO CUSTOMERS PRODUCTS: DIRECT INDIRECT SERVICES: DIRECT INDIRECT
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2.
E OF
BALL
GROW THE ECOSYSTEM PERFORMANCE: COACHING SCOUTING SOCIAL: HEALTHY LIFESTYLE ENTERTAINMENT CHILD DEVELOPMENT R&D: TECHNICAL PAPERS EDUCATION TRAINING AWARENESS: SEMINARS FESTIVALS MEDIA UNDERPRIVILEGED: UPLIFTMENT OPPORTUNITY BUSINESS: INVESTMENT PROFESSION ADVERTISING
E BETWEEN THE CIAL & BUSINESS A COMMUNITY
3.
BUILD A FAN BASE LOYALTY LIFESTYLE ENTERTAINMENT PRIDE
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INTERNAL LINK [DEMAND]
COLLEGES
Os
FOOTBALL PLAYERS
NG
BY WI LL
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LI NK I NG T HE TH EFO O PL A N, CREAT E, VA R I O U S TO PROMOT E
EXTERNAL LINK [SUPPLY]
SOCIAL BUSINESS
FO OT BA LL C OMMUNI T Y TBA L L L I N K PU BLIC IZE & E X E CUTE IN I TIAT IV E S FO OT BA LL IN IN DIA 20
PAST INITIATIVES... COACHES WORKSHOPS [6]
SUMMER CAMPS [3]
90 COACHES
250 CHILDREN
COACHING ACADEMIES [7]
IIT FEST STREET FUTSAL
CASE STUDIES [24]
350 CHILDREN
128 PLAYERS
INDIAN SCENARIO
PERFORMANCE | HEALTHY LIFESTYLE | RESEARCH |
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550 CHILDREN
80 CORPORATES
EVALUATION CAMPS [9]
CORPORATE EVENTS [2]
20 SCHOOLS
300+ PLAYERS
ADVANCED TRAINING
JUNIOR LEAGUE
COACHING MANUALS [16]
FCUBE FUTSAL [15]
COACHES SEMINARS [3]
550 TEAMS
140 COACHES
SCHOOL CHAMPIONSHIP
INTERNATIONAL FESTIVALS [2]
NGO COACHING [6]
80 SCHOOLS
3 INTL CLUBS
250 CHILDREN
ENTERTAINMENT | AWARENESS | UNDERPRIVILIGED 1200 CHILDREN
200+ COVERAGES
16 NGO TEAMS
COACHING CAMPS [12]
MEDIA CAMPAIGNS [10]
NGO TOURNAMENTS
600 CHILDREN
400 CHILDREN
Flower for A CHILD COMMUNITY CAMPAIGNS [7]
SOCIAL CAMPAIGNS [8] 22
STOP DRIBBLING
PASS NOW
by Chetan Misra (Founder, TheFootballLink)
Book Preview
‘Why football, the world’s most popular sport, is giving us Indians a lot less than it gives to people in other countries? We can produce the world’s brightest minds but are unable to produce world class footballers, not because we lack the ability but because we lack trust. We need to unite and work for each other instead of working for ourselves. We need to give every child an opportunity to benefit from a game’. ‘Stop Dribbling. Pass Now.’ provides a first hand insight into the current scenario of Indian Football and explores ways to grow the sport in the country. Chetan Misra graduated from Delhi Public School, RK Puram, New Delhi and completed his Electrical Engineering/Economics degree from Georgia Institute of Technology, USA. During his time in the US, he explored the reasons behind the phenomenal success of the sports industry worldwide and the social/ business benefits that a sport provides. Having played football throughout his school and college days, being a keen observer/coach of the game, and most importantly, an avid football fan, he researched the tremendous success of grassroots football programmes in the USA (especially for young girls) and identified ways to translate these processes and methodologies to benefit a developing country like India. In early 2010, he came back to India to pursue his passion for football, and drive a collective effort to popularize the world’s most popular game in its second most populous country. He, along with other football enthusiasts, founded FootballFirst Sports Pvt. Ltd with a focus on setting up grassroots coaching academies. He then launched TheFootballLink Sport Pvt. Ltd, an online and on-ground football platform to connect all the stakeholders involved in football by organizing various football initiatives including camps, tournaments, festivals, seminars, leagues and more. He has also conducted various case studies to explore Indian Football and has written research papers on ways to improve the current scenario. In 2011, he launched ‘Can Football?’, a social campaign which revolves around questions to highlight ways in which football can benefit India – To aid a healthy lifestyle, through the social benefits that a sport provides, to create jobs for a potentially huge industry, to spread happiness that a game brings, to harness our national pride as fans with India becoming a football powerhouse in Asia & the world. He has received various accolades and recognition for his work in India and has introduced football programs to more than 20,000 children and youth across Delhi/NCR.
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IN THE PIPELINE Continuing our efforts in promoting grassroot football in India, TheFootballLink has many projects lined up for the future. COACHING ACADEMIES [NGO, MERIT & PAID] The academies provide a platform for all children irrespective of their backgrounds to experience and learn football in accordance with the latest international coaching methodologies. CORPORATES FOR FOOTBALL An initiative to get our working population outdoors where they can have fun playing a popular sport, engage in a healthy lifestyle and at the same time support various football initiatives for underprivileged children. FOOTBALL CLUBS [COMMUNITY & PROFESSIONAL] TheFootballLink plans to start numerous communities and professional clubs to provide an outlet to players where they can play football in a professional setting. FCUBE - INDIA The crowd favorite F-Cube now goes national! With 400 teams from 4 cities, the futsal madness gets bigger and better. FOOTBALL FOR FUN To popularize the beautiful game, we plan to organize football tournaments for players from all walks of life - Corporates, Colleges, Schools, NGOs & RWAs. YOUTH FOOTBALL TALENT AWARDS TheFootballLink along with reputed international coaches and scouts will award talented youth football players from schools across India in an Annual Football Convention. CAN FOOTBALL? DOCUMENTARIES Insider’s view into the world of Indian Football ‘CLICK TO SUPPORT’ ONLINE PLATFORM See your team grow by pledging support for your team in an online e-commerce platform for an on-ground initiative.
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SEEKING YOUR SUPPORT PARENT
Assist in setting up an ‘Community Academy- League’ in your locality Become a parent coach/volunteer Support an underpriveleged footballer
CORPORATE
Adopt an NGO Sponsor a football initiative
COACH Train and manage an academy team
FOOTBALL ENTHUSIASTS
Promote our initiatives Be a part of the team - Coach/Volunteer/Intern
INVESTOR
Invest into the growth of Football
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CAN FOOTBALL?
Football can benefit our country Aid a healthy lifestyle Social benefits through a sport Create jobs for a potentially huge industry Spread happiness Harness our national pride with India playing in the World Cup
If one billion people think as a country, We Can!
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TheFootballLink K 53-A Kalkaji New Delhi - 110019 info@thefootballlink.com facebook.com/thefootballlink
ŠTheFootballLink Sport Pvt Ltd, 2012