Thaindian News

New Delhi, Aug 23 (IANS) All India Football Federation’s (AIFF) marketing partners IMG-Reliance Thursday proposed a centre for excellence in Baroda and have also come up with a plan to refurbish stadiums in the country.

IMG-Reliance during a meeting of the I-League Committee here made a presentation on the “Road map for Indian football”.

An IMG-Reliance official told IANS that they plan to come up with an academy at the IPCL township in Baroda.

“We have four-five grounds inside the IPCL township in Baroda. We have proposed to the AIFF that we can build a centre of excellence there. It will be of international standard and we want to make it the best in the country,” the official said.

Talks are on with two leading international groups which have experience in building academies for the centre of excellence. IMG-Reliance remain hopeful that the centre of excellence would supply talent to the national team.

They have also identified stadiums in different part of the country which they would refurbish to host international matches.

“We have identified some stadiums in India and have plans to refurbish them so that we can host international matches. At present, there are only two-three stadiums that can host international matches in India,” the official said.

The official also said that they are working on the modalities of the proposed city-based league and contrary to reports they have the support from the I-League clubs as well.

“Today we made a presentation on the franchise based football tournament. We are happy with the response from the clubs and hopefully we can make a change to Indian football,” the official said.