PIFA Mumbai Lions finish fourth in Catalunya Cup 2013.

Premier India Football Academy (PIFA) organized their 31st Champions Tour from 18-29 June 2013 to Barcelona. This being their 10th year.

Catalunya's UEFA licensed coach Antonio Sánchez, one of the most qualified technical professional from the Spanish football youth academy, assisted by coach's Joseph Maria of the reputed Hristo Stoichkov Academy in Barcelona trained the campers for 5 days at a five star resort in the mountains of Seva. They visited Nou Camp stadium and FC Barcelona Museum during their stay here.

The campers then moved to Lloret de Mar, a Mediterranean coastal town on the Costa Brava. A beautiful and lively beach town.

The boys participated in the Catalunya Cup 2013. Two teams were enrolled - the U11 & U19 both boys team. The U19 boys  finished 5^th in the tournament but the star of the tournament were the U11 boys.

The U11 team category was 7 a side and had 15 teams representing Germany, Ukraine, Egypt, Italy, France, Canada, Russia, Jordan, Spain & India. The PIFA-Mumbai Lions beat PGS Alessandria (Italy) 5-0, Portazgo SD (Spain) 2-1, Sports Academy SAI (Egypt) 4-0 and lost to the eventual cup winners Sokol Sports School 2-5 in their group stage.

The final stage, the team beat Dresdener SC (Germany) 3-1 to enter the semi -finals where fatigue got the better of this small squad of only 7 players to lose to Canada A.A (Canada). The team then lost  3rd place to Ednist (Ukraine) in a penalty shoot-out (6-7).

It was a fabulous performance by these young boys who had trained with PIFA for four months prior to this tournament  in Mumbai.  Arhan Khan, Shubhan Nadiadwala, Shaan Chhadva and Atulya Agarwal were outstanding for the U11 as were Dashyanng Kachru, Karan Patel, Yasheel Shah & Neel Shah for the U19 boys.

Bollywood star Malaika Arora Khan was present and supported the young Mumbai Lions through the competition.

The children visited the water park on the last day.

All campers were awarded a camp certificate and a football. Talented campers were invited to play for the PIFA teams.

The camp open to children between 9-18 years of all abilities, it is designed to develop children into better players, understand the diet & healthy habits of professional players and to understand the foreign culture.

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

PFL League launched by star kids

Very rarely do you hear Bollywood children being Chief Guests and that to for a sporting event.

Premier Football League (PFL) was inaugurated  by Anmol Thakeria son of Poonam Dhillon, Asmaan Bhardwaj son of  the famous Bollywood Director Vishal Bhardwaj / singer Rekha Bhardwaj  and Nakul Krishna son of the soulful Bollywood singer KK.  

The PFL is organised by Premier India Football Academy (PIFA) this being the second edition. This edition has over 32 boys & girls team ranging from 5 years to 16 year old's, the league has 7 categories which includes 30 boys, 8 girls and 2 NGO teams.

Karan Deol, son of Sunny Deol along with Anmol, Asmaan & Nakul are all PIFA students since the last 8-9 years and are the brand ambassadors of PIFA. They will each coach a junior team.  

The league is being played on 12 Saturday mornings at the JBCN International School - Parel football ground, All the matches are played on astro turf pitch, this helps the players to develop their skills, improve through the competition and to work as a team. Football being a high energy game, helps the child to be fit and healthy. 

At lunchtime the audience watched the celebrity kids play the PIFA coaches. After which Anmol, Asmaan & Nakul shared their fond memories of training with PIFA and their special bond they had with the PIFA Directors Anjali & Nirvan. They encouraged the children to play football and train at PIFA.

Panthers win the first edition of the Premier Football League

The First edition of the Premier Football League (PFL) ended on 3 March 2012.

It all came down to the final round match between Panthers and Cara Mitiez. The match was won by Panthers 2-1 and thereby winning the league.

PFL kicked off on 3rd December 2011, with 6 teams participating in this invitational league. Each team played one on Saturday mornings.

The first edition had 60 boys in the 14-15 years age group (U16) category participating in this fast paced 5 a side tournament.

The best player award was won by Jason Norohna and Fair play Award to Vikramaditya Joshi. Both players won prizes from NIKE.

Rank	Team	Played	Won	Draw	Lost	Goal Diff.	Points
1	Panthers	5	5	0	0	9	15
2	Cara Mitiez	5	3	1	1	19	10
4	Mumbai Lions	5	3	1	1	14	10
3	Stars	5	2	0	1	7	6
5	Baltic Warriors	5	1	0	4	-26	3
6	Buca	5	0	0	5	-23	0