Promoting young football talent internationally

Kalaburagi District Football Association chairman and Director-General of Police (Recruitment) Iada Martin Marbaniang with young football players at the turf in Kalaburagi.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Though the lack of infrastructure facilities has been a major constraint in the development of sports in the Kalyana Karnataka region, the Kalaburagi District Football Association (KDFA), established in 2019 and affiliated to Karnataka State Football Association, has done wonders in a short period with one of its young footballers getting selected to represent India in the Under-13 Gothia World Youth Cup to be held at Gothenburg in Sweden this month.

Kalaburagi district is emerging as a major sports hub for football players with the establishment of the KDFA, which is doing a bit in producing quality sportspersons.

KDFA is the brainchild of Director-General of Police (Recruitment) Iada Martin Marbaniang, who during his posting as Superintendent of Police in Kalaburagi and Principal of Police Training Centre, Naganahalli, realised the need to promote talented young students from the region to become national and international sportspersons.

Mr. Marbaniang is the chairman of KDFA.

The football turf that has established on the outskirts of Kalaburagi.
| Photo Credit:
ARUN KULKARNI

Mr. Marbaniang, speaking to The Hindu, said that he was passionate about giving back to the sport that he loved by establishing a football association for fine tuning the skills of young talents and developing their careers.

“My objective is to assure that the talent of young players is utilised in the right path by providing professional training and to see that they represent India in the World Cup. It was this that drove me to work towards setting up the football association. M. Satyarayan, secretary of the Karnataka State Football Association, who ws recently appointed as Deputy Secretary-General of All India Football Federation, and another IAS officer, Nalini Atul, Director, Social Audit, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department, who is the honorary chairman of the KDFA, have helped establish KDFA and ensure that it works in an organised manner,” Mr. Marbaniang said.

At present, the KDFA has five coaches licensed by All India Football Federation. They are head coach Farhaan Shad, Aquib Hannan, Manjunath Patil, Shoiab Khan and Shivaprasad Patil who have been doing a lot to ensure that talented players get a platform to hone their skills and make it count.

“Though the association has good coaches, we are trying to rope in additional coaches so that more attention can be given to individual players,” Mr. Marbaniang said.

The aspiring players are extremely talented and if given a chance and provided the best infrastructure, they can prove themselves at the national and international level. Since the inception of the association the youth here have become more serious about sports.

Being operated quietly away from the public limelight, the KDFA has been churning out new talents who can represent the State and country with distinction in the coming days. Mr. Marbaniang added.

The officer said that a football turf has been established on the outskirts of the city and the Kalyana Karnataka Region Development Board has sanctioned funds to tune of ₹3 crore for providing infrastructure and the required equipment and very soon, the turf will be thrown open to the players, he added.

Giving details of the players who have taken part in district and State-level tournaments in the last three years, Mr. Farhaan Shad said that Imtiyaz from Kalaburagi has represented the Karnataka team in a national tournament in 2021-22. Another player, Syed Rafi, recently made headlines by getting selected for the Under-13 Gothia World Youth Cup side to be held in Sweden this month.

The others, including Mallikarjun, Faizan, Nitish, Shazeb, Tariq and Adil, have been selected (all under-13) for the Mumbai league, while Kabir, Haadi and Saquib have already played in the Under-16 Karnataka Youth Premier League.