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.

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 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.

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