Indian Football: Kolkata and Aurangabad shortlisted for National team training centre

The Indian FA are mulling over two cities with regards to having a National team training centre…

The All Football Federation (AIFF) President, Praful Patel announced earlier this week that would soon have a state-of-the-art training centre for the national teams across all age groups.

“We are setting up a national training centre of excellence which will be the home of the Indian national team, junior and women’s team. We are wanting to build a world class centre of excellence. We should have a permanent facility for everything – from physical training to swimming room to classrooms to mental conditioning,” said Patel.

The AIFF has already shortlisted two locations for the national team training centre. It is reliably learnt that the Government of West Bengal has offered over 12 acres land to the AIFF.

Meanwhile, Sports Authority of India (SAI) too has some land in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad district which could be used for building a national team training centre.

“Yes, we are in discussions about having a national training centre. However, this is still being discussed. SAI is very much a part of the discussion in this case. We had this in mind for a long time. It’s very important for us to have something of our own which would benefit the national teams in the long run. This will also help us keep our spends in check,” AIFF General Secretary, Kushal Das informed Goal.

“We do have a couple of options which we are looking into,” he added.

The AIFF will inspect the two locations later this month and hold relevant talks with the concerned authorities in the two states.