AIFF launches ScoutMe app to unearth new football talents in the country

Indian football's governing body will carry out careful scrutinization and certificate authentication to maintain the integrity of the application.

The last 12 months have been tremendous for Indian football, majorly because of hosting the FIFA U-17 World Cup, another for establishing youth systems over the domestic boundary of the country. Induced, by the growth of the U-17 national team, the All India Football Federation took a step further to spot young talent in a much easier way.

By joining hands with the digital space, AIFF’s new mobile scouting application ScoutMe will further streamline the scouting process. Becoming the first Sports Federation in India to launch a mobile-based scouting application to unearth future talent, the federation is not new to a system like this. It was through their overseas online scouting portal that the AIFF discovered Namit Deshpande and Sunny Dhaliwal for the major tournament.

AIFF President Praful Patel was ecstatic and confident of the success of the new venture. "It’s a pleasure for me to launch the AIFF’s scouting application. We have so much talent across every corner of the country, but it’s not always physically possible to travel the distance. Hence, we intend to bridge this distance through the ever-growing and highly-penetrative mobile application ecosystem.”

"I would like to also take this opportunity to congratulate Kush, the creator of this app. I would urge the youth today to invest their intellect in such constructive acts that only work as a showcase for their future and also help many of them in the longer run,” he added. “I am sure that through ScoutMe, we would be slowly giving life to many aspirants and talents who dream of representing their state and country in football.”

ScoutMe has been developed by a 17-year-old football enthusiast who is pursuing his International Baccalaureate Diploma Program at Jayshree Periwal International School, Jaipur.

Addressing the media AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das said, "When I first saw Kush's vision for the project, I was quite impressed with it. Initially, it needed slight improvements and efforts but now it is ready and it will be essential for Indian football. This will surely aid us in managing our rosters and leagues in the country."

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"We are further looking forward to developing an independent application for baby leagues and Kush is welcome to assist us in that," he added.

ScoutMe, in simpler terms, is an end-to-end solution for a lengthy process of scouting young talent in remote and urban areas. The user shall make an account and maintain profiles for his players or himself by uploading images/videos, relevant certificates, performances during their matches and so on. Adding to it, it has the match schedules of every governing body competition and state leagues to follow in future.

The application does not allow a one-to-one conversation but the user can monitor the growth of his shortlisted athletes. The scouts, for AIFF, will be certified to keep an eye on prospects to play at the highest level in any age category. Abhishek Yadav, National Team Director further assured that AIFF approved coaches will have a keen eye on the roster on offer through the app. Careful scrutinization and certificate authentication will be done on regular basis to maintain integrity.

"Most of the clubs have realized the essence of youth development, which is essential for Indian Football and for the untapped players, this application will help us to find them. We will take care of the other things like the finances etc for the selected players," an ecstatic Kushal Das said.

Kush Pandey, the creator of the app said, “My interest in computer science along with my love for football and sustained help from my younger brother Arjun Pandey enabled me to create an application to scout prospective footballing talent. I am grateful to the AIFF for giving me the platform to aid their grassroots development scouting process through the application.”

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On his journey to the current position, Kush was enquired how did a young 17-year-old got in touch with the federation while various journalists have failed to do so. He explained his path to this collaboration with clearing haze over the fact that he was a member of Bhaichung Bhutia Football School. Mr. Praful Patel intervened to answer that question by the senior journalist, Novy Kapadia by saying, "If you approach us right, you get the time."

In the era of digital personal data frauds, it will be interesting to see which fruit will be on offer through this collaboration, promising new players or yet another hoax.