Saturdays will never be the same

Premier Football League (PFL) and Junior Football League (JFL) concluded on Saturday 23 February at the JBCN International School astro turf football pitch in Parel, Mumbai, The league was played over 12 Saturdays since 17 November 2012.

Two hundred fourteen boys between the ages 5 to 17 years participated in 6 age categories and forty two girls played in the 2 age groups. There were 1-2 talented underprivileged boys from the PIFA Foundation youth development program in most of the teams. Most of the teams were formed  randomly by mixing the players.

The participants were offered free training during this period by the league training partners - Premier India Football Academy (PIFA) at any of their 14 centres in Mumbai.

This League is the 2nd edition, the previous edition being played in 2011-2012 at the Western Railway ground in Parel.

Director Anjali Shah had this to say about the league "The league was designed for young children to show case and improve  their skills, to stay fit and healthy, to socialize and play with new team mates and finally, for parents to spend some quality time with their young ones"

The league had parents as coaches and managers. The league was played  4v4 for age 5-6 years and increased depending on their age category upto 7v7 for 12years and above. This was primarily to let the players get more touches of the ball and enable them to develop their skills.

The Winners and top scorers of the league were as follows :

JFL 1 (5-6 yrs) : Falcons (Raj Solanki)
JFL 2 (7-8 yrs) : Alligators (Jordan Naronha)
JFL 3 (9-10 yrs) : Titans (Sidh Surana)
JFL 4 (11-12 yrs) : Bombay Bullets (Abhishek)

PFL 1 (13-15 yrs) : Buca (Manas Maniar)
PFL 2 (16-17 yrs) : Black Panthers (Vaugn Menezes)
PFL Jr Girls (8-12 yrs) : Ballerina (Saaya Mehta)
PFL Sr Girls (13-17 yrs) : Spice Girls (Rhea Jaffer)

The top scorers won prizes from Nike.

The league technical Director Nirvan (UEFA/AFC B lic. coach) was excited by what he saw,  "Simply amazed to see the improvement in the ability of these young boys and girls over the 12 match days. They are now passing and creating opportunities. They are all enjoying their game, it is not about winning, it is about challenging themselves to get better. India's got talent, our next step as India coaches and parents is to nurture the talented cubs into world class players "

At the conclusion of this edition of the league Mrs Sunita Narohna (parent) exclaimed "Saturdays will not be the same any more !".

The next edition of the League will be in October 2013, registrations will open shortly on www.pfleague.in

PIFA in the Nike Manchester United Premier Cup Final of India Leg.

Premier India Football Academy (PIFA) under 15 students from the Elite training have entered the finals of the  NIKE - Manchester United Premier Cup tournament being played at the SESA Academy football ground Goa from 7-10 May 2012.

Teams representing Kerala, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Goa fought for the West & South zonal title along with last years winner Salgaocar SC.

PIFA Colaba FC,Maharashtra topped their group by beating Youth Club Soccer Academy, Gujarat 4-1, Dunes FC, Goa 3-0 and drew 1-1 with Idukki Football Academy, Kerala.

In the Zonal (west & south) semi-finals they beat Narmada FC, Madhya Pradesh 4-0 and in the finals beat defending champions Salgaocar SC 3-0.

In the All India semi finals they beat Idukki Football Academy, Kerala 3-0

PIFA Colaba FC, Maharashtra will now face Chandigarh FA, the winners of the North, Northeast and East Zonal leg which was earlier held at the JRD Tata Sports Complex in Jamshedpur and consisted of teams from Assam, Chandigarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Orissa, Punjab, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

The best under-15 teams set to face each other in Goa on May 10 for a place in the Southeast Asia finals to be played in Indonesia in late-May 2012.

TEAM SQUAD :

Mr Faruk Ahmad (Coach)
Mr Nagesh Swamy (Assistant Coach)
Ms Nivedita Vishwanathan (Physio)
Mr Tejesh Sharma (Manager)

Players : Tejas, Pritam, Faizaan, Mrunal, Sherwyn, Kshitij, Al-Umair, Sohail, Hemant, Kamlesh,  Dheeraj,  Sushant, Judon, Prathamesh, Suraj, Thoichan 

Sundays will never be the same again.

Premier India Football Academy (PIFA) is back again with a football league for children.

The Premier Football League (PFL) is a 7 a side children’s Sunday league for boys and girls aged 5 to 15 years. This league will be played over 8 weeks. 

AGE GROUP CATEGORIES
MIDGETS Age 5 - 6 years - born in 2005 or 2006
SUB JUNIORS Age 7 - 8 years - born in 2003 or 2004
JUNIORS Age 9 - 10 years - born in 2002 or 2001
INTERMEDIATES Age 11 - 12 years - born in 1999 or 2000
SENIORS Age 13 - 15 years - born in 1996, 1997 or 1998

The Sunday morning league will initially be held at a location in South Mumbai.  It is an opportunity for children of all abilities to participate in a football tournament. Children are encouraged to form teams made up of players from their building society, locality, community or school. The children will have the option to train on Saturdays for the league.

The PFL is schedule to kick off on 19 November 2011 with the first training session on Saturday, 18 November 2011.

The league will have all the elements of the beautiful game competition, skills, teamwork, mentoring and humility.

Two unique features of this league are;

The Parent Coach

Parents looking at spending quality time with their children doing something that interests both. Parents will manage and coach their child’s team.

Football Buddy

Each team  will consist of 2 underprivileged children from the PIFA community project. The aim of PFL is to demonstrate to children the charm of the beautiful game where everyone is equal on the field and the only language spoken is that of Football.

In this edition, there will be 5 age groups, each age group having 8 teams. Each team will play one another over seven weeks. The 8^th week will decide the winners between the top 2 teams and prizes will be awarded to the finalists and a best player awards. The best player of the league will win a free trip to UK.

The PFL will start on November 19^th with the first training session on Saturday 12^th November.

Nike will be the official football for the league. Winners will get a gift set from Nike and get once a week free training at any one of the PIFA centres for one year. Talented players will be scouted for the various PIFA teams.

PIFA's efforts in India have been recognized by Asian Football Confederacy (AFC) Deputy General Secretary - Dato Paul Mony Samuel, An excerpt from the letter- "I thank you for your work for football in India and encourage you to support and follow the football development path set out in Vision India"

It is an ideal event for corporate companies  to associate with this annual event.

NIKE will be the official footballs.

More info can be obtained on the website http://www.pfleague.in

or contact 98202 68365