LaLiga schools’ team for Mumbai youth league

The Mumbai Football Association’s youth league will have a new entrant this year – LaLiga Football Schools. In the year they turn five in India, LaLiga Football Schools will field under-13 and under-15 boys’ teams in the competition scheduled for March. The players will be chosen from eight centres they have in Maharashtra.

“The logic behind this is the logic of football,” said Jose Antonio Cachaza, managing director LaLiga, India. “You have to train for something and that something is to compete. You have to provide them with the whole experience.”

Intrinsic to that experience though is playing for fun. In Spain, even though you may not be good enough to be a professional, you can train twice a week and be part of organised competitions where games are held on weekends, he said. “That means you can start kicking a ball when you are five and continue till you are in your 40s or more,” he said.

Also in the works are a goalkeepers’ school for boys and girls and a development centre, both in Mumbai. “That is where we have most enrollments and also where the programme’s technical director Miguel Casal is based,” said Cachaza. At the development centre, the best from their schools in Mumbai will get extra training, “to prepare them for a bigger jump,” he said. “This is linked to the teams playing in the Mumbai youth leagues.”

Depending on the city and the centre, it costs between ₹1700- ₹3500 per month but those selected for the development centre will not pay more, said Cachaza over a video call from Mumbai.

LaLiga Football Schools has 2500 boys and girls spread over 22 centres in 10 cities in India. Some of their boys have moved to Mumbai City FC’s academy, he said. Midfielder Kajol D’Souza, who played all the games in the under-17 women’s World Cup and was in the squad for the SAFF under-20 women’s championship, has been part of the Spanish league’s programme in India, said Cachaza.

Football’s top brands have come to India and set up schools but nearly all have steered clear of competitions organised by All India Football Federation and its affiliates. Asked whether LaLiga is risking its brand value by playing in the league, Cachaza laughed and said: “That is a perfectly good point. But we have to trust our coaches to be doing a good job, at least decent. When our coaches decided that this was the step, they are sure we will compete right. That is what we are looking to do.”