LIVE YOUR DREAM - Indian children have an opportunity to showcase their talent in Spain

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

The campers will attend  the reputed Hristo Stoichkov Academy . Hristo Stoichkov is a  football legend from  Bulgaria. He was a member of the Bulgarian national team that finished fourth at the 1994 World Cup, in which he was the top scorer with 6 goals that earned him the World Cup Golden Boot .  At FC Barcelona, he was part of Johan Cruyff's  'Dream Team',  it was one of the  most successful eras of the club, winning the La Liga four years in a row and the European Cup .

The training will be conducted by UEFA licensed coach Antonio Sánchez, one of the most qualified technical professional from the Spanish football youth academy, he is also scouts for Barcelona FC.  The players will be prepared for the International tournament as well as to enhance the ability.

The players will stay and train at a luxurious resort & training facilities. These facilities are also used by  Barcelona teams  for  their outstation camp.

The organizers have also invited the Dutch legend Johan Cruyff to have dinner with the campers, the children will be able to interact with the Barca legend. Cruyff is synonymous with the playing style of "Total Football" and master of the "Cruyff Turn". He won the Ballon d'Or thrice, a record recently broken by Messi.

The children will get a tour of Nou Camp Stadium and Museum, as well as a city tour.
In the second phase of the tour, the children will play an International  tournament in the beach town of Lloret, where over 200 teams are expected from all over the World. Famous young players like Neymar have participated in, the tournament is truly an opportunity for talented players to show case their skills and to be invited for club trials.

The camp is open to children between 10-20 years of all abilities. The camp is designed to develop children into better players, understand the diet & healthy habits of professional players, to understand the Spanish culture and to make new friends.

All campers will be awarded a camp certificate and a football.  One lucky participant will win a FC Barcelona jersey signed by Lionel Messi.

For tour details contact 9820968365

PIFA kids meet Wayne Rooney.

PIFA Champions Tour to Manchester sprung a memorable surprise for the young campers when they were visited by England & Manchester United icon Wayne Rooney. 

The camps are organised by Premier India Football Academy (PIFA) since 2003 and is their 29^th European camp. The camp is open to boys and girls 10-19 years of age.

The camp included training everyday by Gary Judge from Coaching Connexions, tours to Old Trafford Stadium and Anfield Stadium, watch an EPL match and play a match against a local side.

However, at this camp, the children were also treated to training at four English Premier League club academies - Manchester United FC Academy at Broughton coaching by Shane – (U12 & Skills Specialist), Manchester City FC Academy at Platt Lane coaching by Collin Reade, Liverpool FC Academy at Kirby coaching by Ollie Morgan (Head of Sports Science, Stephen Torpey (9-11 yrs), Gary Lewis (12-14 yrs) and West Bromwich FC Academy at Halfords by David Lawrence (Ladies 1^st team). 

 

The campers played a 5 a side match against local club Nethertons FC, they won 21-11.

The participants had to undergo a skill test on the last day, the winner was Ritwik Dutta with 510 points just beating Rama Varma by 10 points. The best camper was Arjun Nair, he got a Liverpool captains armband and jersey signed by Steven Gerrard.

The highlight of the campers was meeting Wayne Rooney, who took time off from his busy schedule to spend an hour with the kids.

The next two PIFA Champions Tour is to Barcelona on 15 May and 18 June. To register contact 98209 68365.

Indian Football 2013 - the way ahead.

The current search for investors for 2 new I-League ONE clubs (i-L1), the recruitment of Rob Baan and his team all bear good tidings for Indian Football.

As someone interested in grass-root development there is still a lot more that AIFF can do.

Stop the Nationals.
Instead have inter club/academy zonal tournaments culminating in All India final for the various age group U15, U17, U19 and  U21 (Boys and Girls) and have the home clubs host the same.

This will help improve Indian football considerably.

1) Clubs will scout for good youth players and develop them
2) Issue of over age will be taken care of
3) Talented youth players will go on to play for the main club team, thus reducing player salaries
4) Develop fan base from students, parents-relatives and locality
5) With so many clubs and academies playing, the Indian selectors will have a greater choice to scout for the national camp.
6) Having the clubs host the matches will improve the organisation of the tournament
7) The money saved by AIFF not hosting the Nationals, can now be used - to recruit more staff, for the I league and used for the National academies.
8) Sponsors and investors will be interested
9) Media will be interested
10) Stop political influence in player and coach selection

Technical Center
The center will develop Coaches, Instructors, Technical and Referees on a year long basis. The center must have good football facilities and living arrangement for at least 50-100 people.

A 12 month calendar of events mentioning the certification, schedule and fees of all the courses with maybe on-line registration on first cum basis. However, priority must be given to the i-league clubs.

A dream start for PIFA in the I league 2nd division 2013

PIFA Sports FC made a dream start at the I league 2nd division football tournament organised by AIFF in Indore from 9 March 2013 onward.

The team won both its first 2 games to pick up 6 points and top the group B table. 

The group boasts of top teams from various city/states - Aizwal FC (Mizoram), Aryan Club (Kolkata), Bhowanipore Club (Kolkata), Green Valley SC (Guwahati), Josco FC (Kerala), Mohammedan Sporting Club (Kolkata), Royal Wahingdoh FC (Shillong) and Simla Youngs FC (Delhi).

PIFA Sports FC beat Simla Youngs 3-2 (Kevin, Sushil, Ketan) and beat Green Valley 2-1. (Emmanuel, Kevin)

PIFA SPORTS FC 

Goalkeepers
James Swamy, Neeraj Sharma

Field Players
Shabbir Ali, Aavesh Shaikh, Nihal Chandran,  Kunal K, Jacky Khaidem, Varin Mehta, Nagesh Swamy, Dashyanng Kachru, Akash Jain, Tushar Poojary, Priyo Kumar, Ravindra Tamatta, Ketan Kalgutkar, Neel Shah, Clifford Garette, Sushil Kawade, Kevin Patrick, Titus Uttankar, Vincent Asuquo (Nigeria), James Phiri (Zimbabwe), Emmanuel Okoye (Nigeria)

Officials
Faruk Ahmed (Coach), Nirvan Shah (CEO & Technical Director), Manish Dhabliya (Physio), Sudhakar Rane (Manager), Tejesh Sharma (Assistant Manager)

PIFA Sport FC, earlier known as PIFA Colaba FC, will be playing for the third time in the 2nd Division I-League. The team is being coached by UEFA A licensed coach Faruk Ahmed.

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.

PIFA International football camps in India this Diwali

Premier India Football Academy (PIFA)  will be bringing International coaches for the nineth year in a row to India to conduct football training camps.

Premier India Football Academy is dedicated to the development of Indian football since its inception in 2003. PIFA’s international alliances with football academies around the world helps PIFA adopt the latest training methods to develop players.

• From 13 to 16 November at Churchgate, Mumbai.
• From 22 to 25 November at Unison World School, Dehra Dun

Experienced youth football FA licensed coaches from England will be flown down from London to conduct the camps. Over 1500 children have attended the thirty PIFA international camps held in the past 8 years. Last year, ninety children benefited from the two camps held in India.

The coaches have specialized in training children 8-16 years of age. Each camp is of four days duration. With a day dedicated to one of the four basic elements of Football training - Shooting, Dribbling, Passing & Control. Each skill will culminate in a skills contest. Also a fitness test as well as psychology test will be conducted to make the children aware & on how they can help themselves. PIFA guarantees improvement

All participants have gone on to do well in their football career. PIFA International Camper 2009 – Miss Brishti Bagchi from Bangalore was selected this year to play in the US League. Some of the participants were selected to play for PIFA Colaba FC U-15 team that became the 2012 NIKE MUPC Finalists.

Nike is the official football for the camp and the Skills contest winners get a gift set from Nike as well as get once a week free training from PIFA at any one of the centers for the year.

The camps are open to boys & girls of any ability, 8-16 years of age.  

Like last year, the seats are limited and will be allocated on first come basis. So hurry and book your place immediately. Make it your GOAL to be there.

Please call 9820968365 for details.

Junior Football League

PIFA trained Bombay Gym Colts remain unbeaten

Premier India Football Academy (PIFA) the football training partners of Bombay Gymkhana Colts Team (U19) team playing for the first time in the MDFA Second Division category have remained unbeaten in three games.

GKW Rangers 1:1 

Millat FC 0:0 

Hugh Fernandes 1:1

PIFA campers watch Messi hattrick

The PIFA Champions Tour to Barcelona was organised by Premier India Football Academy from 1-10 May 2012.


The Indian campers got to watch Messi score a hat trick at Nou Camp for FC Barcelona to see off  Malaga 4-1. The children were mesmerised by Lionel Messi's passes and shooting ability.


Over nine days, the young Indian campers were also trained to play like Messi & Inesta at the Hristo Stoitchkov Academy in Barcelona  by Antonio Sanchez, head coach and technical director of Catalunya FA conducted the training on & off the field.
The children visited Nou Camp as well the FC Barcelona training centre - "Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper".

Click here to see VIDEO

This was PIFA's 25th camp to Europe. The next camp to Barcelona is from 18 June 2012  


www.pifa.co.in

Bombay Gymkhana women's football team kick off with a win

The 2012 MDFA Women's league kicked off on 17 May 2012 at the Bombay Gymkhana Football ground. Thirteen women's teams have participated in this15 day league.

Bombay Gymkhana Women's football team kicked off their first ever season of the Mumbai Division Football Association (MDFA) Womens league with a 2-0 win over Hugh Fernandes Academy.

This young team is being trained by PIFA director and UEFA licensed coach Nirvan Shah for the last 15 days. The mission of the training is to prepare the team to compete at a professional level in 9 months time to play in India and abroad. Training at the club is held twice a week.

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 

Living the Football Dream

PIFA campers with Liverpools UEFA Champions league Cup

Watching the EPL or La Liga on TV is fine for a certain kind of sports fan. Other fanatics want to meet their larger-than-life heroes after a game, a goal usually accomplished by elbowing through a like-minded throng for a postgame autograph.

PIFA campers at San Siro to watch AC Milan match

For these die-hard, the world of Premier India Football Academy( PIFA)camps beckons.  Instruction from the pros is mixed with competition—and a healthy dose of banter. Still, for anyone who’s had childhood dreams of wearing a personalized club jersey and going to the legendary stadium grounds this is the real deal.

At the Liverpool –Manchester camp, for example, you  train with qualified academy coaches, visit the home ground for both these legendary teams, be a part of thousands of passionate English fans singing their team anthems, test your footie skills against local academy players all while you live in a very comfortable hotel  in the beautiful English countryside.

PIFA campers with AC Milan legend KAKA

The Spanish camp to Barcelona spells complete extravagance. The city of Barcelona will leave you spell bound. Train with coaches from the Catalunya FA, watch  FC Barcelona play in a La Liga game at Nou camp, visit the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper (FC Barcelona training centre),play matches with  Spanish youth teams. Accommodation is at an exclusive property developed for Barca sports teams. 

 These camps are on offer to a select few boys and girls 8-18 years. If you would like more information about “PIFA Champions Tours” of May and June 2012 kindly call on 9820268365 or email  info@pifa.co.in

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

PIFA Colaba beat Prayag United to lift Abhijit Kadam Memorial Cup 2012

Premier India Football Academy (PIFA) Colaba FC registered a solitary goal win over i league team Prayag United SC 1-0 and lift the 7th Abhijit Kadam Memorial Football Cup, at the Bharati Vidyapeeth Educational Complex Ground, here on Sunday.

The victory for the Mumbai side meant bettering their record in the tournament. Earlier, PIFA had finished runners-up in the state-level Abhijit Kadam Memorial Football Shield, which entitled them to play in the all-India tournament and eventually end on a high. A first-half goal from striker Nagesh Swamy (39th minute) was enough to separate the two sides at the end of regulation time.

PIFA pocketed Rs Winners Rs 3.0 lakh for their effort, while runners-up Prayag United SC had to be content with Rs 2 lakh. The winners and runners up received their spoils from Mr. Patangrao Kadam, Founder & Chancellor, Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University and Minister of Forest, Rehabilitation & Help, Maharashtra State. The Best Player award was handed over by Mr. Vishwajeet Kadam and Secretary, Bharati Vidyapeeth and Managing Trustee Abhijit Kadam Memorial Foundation, while the Best Goalkeeper award had Mr. SF Patil, Ex- Vice Chancellor Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University give away the prize. Both individual winners was handed a cash award of Rs 15,000 respectively.

TEAMS PIFA Colaba: Kishan Sulegai, Clifford Garrett, Vincent Bassey, Vinay Jadhav, Dheeraj Meher, Hantoba Singh, Jackie Singh, Sushil Kawde, George Wamou, Nagesh Swamy, Dashanng Kachru, Godpower Canopy, Gautam Kanojia, Mohsin Khan, Jeevan Nalge, Ravindra Tamatar, Ganesh kamat, Subhash Mondal

Man of the Match: Nagesh Swamy  (PIFA Colaba)

 Best Player of the Tournament : Vincent Bassey (PIFA Colaba)

PACT 2012 a big Success

On 25 February 2012, Premier India Football Academy organised their annual PIFA All Centre Tournament (PACT) at Parel.

Around 180 children from all the PIFA centers participated in 3 age groups. The students were mixed and got to make new friends.

The children got a chance to show their skills in a stress free environment. Parents attended in huge numbers.

Music, food and loads of smiles.


Everyone was the winner.

NIKE were the official football's.

PIFA Champions Tour to Barcelona, Manchester & Liverpool 2012

Camp to Liverpool Academy 2011 (LFC Player Flanigan)

PIFA have organized the best football camps to Europe over eight years, next one will be our 25th camp. We have had camps to AC Milan, Rome, Barcelona, Rangers, Manchester, Liverpool & London.

Over 500 children have participated in these camps some of whom have gone on to represent India, state and playing college football/soccer all over the world.

The camps are intense and fun, with tours to the best football club stadiums, watch a Premiership game, train like Premiership academy players, play a local team, an opportunity to be seen by scouts and if lucky meet players.

Eligibilty :Boys & Girls 10-18 years (all abilities)

 

In 2012, we will go to England & Spain  

Date	City, Country	Hightlight	Stadium
1-9 May 2012	Barcelona	Barca v Malaga	Nou Camp
7-15 May 2012	Manchester	EPL Match	Liverpool & Man Utd Stadium
10-18 Jun 2012	Liverpool	Alton Towers	Liverpool & Man Utd Stadium
22-30 Jun 2012	Barcelona	Amusement Park	Nou Camp

Email for details : camps@pifa.co.in
Call : +91 22 30422265

PIFA Colaba U-19 Runner Up of the BFRA FairPlay Tournament.

The annual BFRA Fairplay tournament was organised on the 26th of January at the St. Xaviers ground Parel. The 9 a-side tournament which is held annually on the Republic Day is an excellent opportunity for youngsters to showcase their talent and the PIFA Colaba FC U-19 team did just that. The team showed excellent character throughout the tournament which is a feature of all PIFA teams. The all day tournament was a real test of the strength and resolve of the boys as the team comprised of young and promising footballers of the future.


The first game saw PIFA up against the big guns; Air India U-19. The boys gave their best and won the game 3-4 in a dramatic penalty shootout. PIFA goalkeeper Pritam Jadhav pulled some excellent saves to help the team progress to the next round. The second game was against 'Mumbai Muslims' which PIFA won comfortably by 2 goals to nil. This result saw PIFA Colaba U-19 progress to the semi finals. The semi final was a close call with the game ending up with the game ending up 1-0. PIFA Colaba U-19 was through to the 2nd consecutive final of the BFRA Fairplay tournament.

PIFA faced 'Intellinet' in the finals. Unfortunately the PIFA Colaba U-19 boys lost by a seldom goal. To be fair to the U-19 team, the final was immediately after the semi final giving the boys very little time to recoup from the hard fought semi final.

It was a great result for a very young side that brought the 'BFRA Fairplay Runner-up trophy' back to PIFA. There were a lot of individual laurels by PIFA players as Pritam Jadhav bagged the "Best Goalkeeper Trophy' and Noel Rodrigues won the 'Upcoming Player' award. This young PIFA side has a lot of potential and a long way to go

FIFA Ballon d’Or 2011 Gala

The year may have only just got under way but it has already played host to one of the highlights of the footballing calendar, in the form of the FIFA Ballon d’Or 2011 Gala.


The winners are -

Lionel Messi, Barcelona FC and Argentina forward received the FIFA Ballon d’Or Award for 2011

Pep Guardiola of Barcelona FC  was honored as men’s coach of the year.

Homare Sawa of Japan  2011 was awarded the Women’s best player.

Norio Sasaki was named Best Coach of a Women's team

FIFPro World XI: Goalkeeper (Iker Casillas); defence (Dani Alves, Gerard Pique, Sergio Ramos, Nemanja Vidic); midfield (Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Xabi Alonso); forwards (Messi, Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney).

Santos star Neymar has been awarded the FIFA Puskas Award 2011

Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United FC received the FIFA Presidential Award.

PIFA at the Ecole Mondiale Christmas Carnival

Premier India Football Academy were invited by the Ecole Mondiale World School, Juhu to organise a football activity for the students at the Ecole Christmas Carnival held on 20 December 2011.



See Video