All about Chennaiyin FC and Norwich City FC’s partnership after one year

The Marina Machans and the Canaries announced a three-year partnership in 2024.

Former two-time Indian Super League (ISL) champions Chennaiyin FC made headlines in 2024 when they partnered with EFL Championship club Norwich City FC. The first year of this partnership saw the CFC U-12s rub their shoulders against elite European club football youth teams.

The Canaries are a professional football club in the English Football League (EFL) Championship. A club who have previously won 2 League Cup titles in the past, Norwich has also played multiple seasons in the Premier League.

After the completion of their one-year partnership, Chennaiyin FC’s CEO Akhil Prakash and Norwich City FC’s Commercial Director Sam Jeffery addressed the press while updating them about their partnership. The excerpts of the interview are as follows:

Chennaiyin FC is promoting the next generation through partnership

The Canaries’ Commercial Director claimed that he and the Canaries were happy with how things have progressed in their first year. He expressed delight over what both clubs have been able to achieve and shared his delight over Chennaiyin Under-12s and their participation in the Mina Cup.

He shared, “The big headline we made from the press conference a year ago is that we wanted to invite Chennaiyin’s Under-12s to participate in our academy tournament, the Mina Cup, which took place in October 2024. We’re pleased to say that Chennaiyin didn’t just take part in that, but were also really successful.”

While he conceded that the visitors took time to adapt to the climatic conditions, they performed well during their time in the UK. He shared, “Chennaiyin U-12’s played against a number of top sides and were admirable. They were really good actually against Chelsea and Liverpool and Inter Milan, and ended up beating Borussia Dortmund.”

The CFC-NCFC partnership has made significant strides

When asked about the achievements that the partnership has already made, the Norwich City Commercial Director revealed that the partnership has made really good strides this season. He also shared that both the clubs are also working on a significant announcement which might interest fans in the coming weeks.

He stated, “We’ve made some really good progress in a number of other discussions and actually, in a couple of weeks, there’ll be a significant announcement of an opportunity that we’ve been working on thanks to Chennaiyin over the last couple of months, which I think most people will be really interested in and surprised by.”

He admitted that commercial opportunities were certainly initially the key driving force for Norwich City FC in this partnership. However, he revealed that they discovered several other intangible benefits from the partnership including hiring Indian talent for commercial job positions in the club.

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The Norwich City partnership helped Chennaiyin FC increase fan engagement

Chennaiyin FC CEO Akhil Prakash also opened up about the initial reaction as a result of the partnership, and how it has helped the ISL club. He shared that there was a lot of excitement and interest among fans when the partnership was announced, and was happy that the club followed up on their promise to the fans.

While talking about how they have increased fan engagement, Prakash stated, “Apart from broadcasting the Mina Cup in India, we have been conducting some fan engagement activities. So in the UK, pub quizzes are quite a common theme based around football. So we have started football quiz nights in Chennai. We’ve had about three editions so far and we had a good turnout in the first three editions.”

He also admitted that while the community may not necessarily be a fan of Norwich City or Chennai, Prakash aspires that these activities will eventually help cultivate a platform for new fans. He shared that the partnership aims to do more such activities in the upcoming two years for Chennaiyin fans.

The Canaries’ management was impressed with Chennaiyin FC youngsters during the Mina Cup

When asked about the U-12s from the club that made the trip to England last year, Jeffery stated, “We were really impressed by what Chennaiyin FC and some of the players produced. As we said, culturally, and even from a climate standpoint, it was a totally alien environment for a lot of those guys.”

He shared that the performances of these young players justified the club’s decision to play them in the Mina Cup and emphasized that the results from these games shouldn’t receive much attention. He stated, “It’s all about enjoyment of the game, technical adaptation, and development. But actually, a lot of the results were really close, particularly against some of the top sides.”

Jeffery also praised the players for their attitudes and work rate and clearly emphasized the challenges they overcame throughout the tournament.

Have there been any challenges faced by the clubs in this partnership between Chennaiyin FC and Norwich City?

When asked if there were any challenges in terms of the relationship between the two clubs in the first year, Chennaiyin FC’s Akhil Prakash shared that both clubs have been quite open. They have been clear about what they can achieve together and have set up realistic goals for their partnership.

He stated, “Of course, both clubs have their own schedules, their own domestic markets that they need to address. While we want to make the partnership work at every level, obviously both are teams that have limited resources and time to get things done…But apart from that, I think what’s worked is the fact that we’ve been open and transparent with each other and therefore have no major challenges in that sense to report.”

Akhil Prakash hails Norwich City FC’s ‘world-class’ training facilities

Talking about the experience of Chennaiyin FC’s U-12 side that went to play the Mina Cup, Prakash said, “I think the facilities that we saw at the training center where we had the opportunity for under-12s to play was outstanding. I think it is one of the best facilities in the world for sure.”

The experience seems to have an indelible mark for Prakash, who revealed that the club is exploring more opportunities where they can train more young Indian footballers abroad. He added that the Canaries’ training facility and opportunity to play under experienced coaches will benefit young impressionable Indian football minds.

Will any Chennaiyin FC player play for Norwich City FC in the coming years?

Many fans hoped that the CFC-NCFC partnership will see an Indian players soon play for Norwich City in the coming years. While opening up about potentially signing a Chennaiyin FC player for Norwich City, Jeffery said, “I think it’s early in the partnership to say whether we’ve spotted any players that we could take on board. However, we are in discussions at the moment about potentially bringing a number of under-23 or a handful of under-23 players from Chennaiyin FC to experience a significant period of time.”

He shared that these players will be at the Norwich City FC academy for four to six weeks and will be assessed by club coaches while gaining a firsthand understanding of elite-level academy football environment.

While keeping the door open for such a possibility in the future, he stated, “There’ll be opportunities I suspect in the next few weeks where there might be the chance for our coaches to work with Chennaiyin’s coaches to potentially look at some players. For us, nothing’s off the table.”

Big plans for Norwich City FC and Chennaiyin FC in Year 2

When asked what the next year beholds in the relationship between the two clubs, Norwich’s commercial director said, “Well, as I said, there will be a major announcement in the next couple of weeks, which is a great way to kick-start year two.”

He shared that the club is in conversation about organizing the second iteration of our academy tournament and working towards Chennaiyin FC’s potential participation. Jeffery also shared his wish to organize the inter-school tournament soon.

While admitting wider commercial goals in the future, Jeffery hopes for bigger things in Year Two. Talking about the future plans, he concluded, while sharing, “There’s probably two or three major milestones that will happen throughout the year alongside all of the other culturally authentic content and likely other opportunities that will come up throughout the year.”

Youth development central to Chennaiyin FC’s partnership goals

Prakash shared that the club is identifying young players who will be going for training abroad. He reiterated that the club wants to train them, analyze their progress, and assess their potential with the help of coaches at the Norwich City Academy.

He stated, “These are talents that we want to invest in long term. We have, as a club, done that in the past. We’ve seen results coming from that…We saw a couple of our top talents, including Jerry and Anirudh Thapa, whom the club had sent to FC Metz and they came back different players and we’re hoping that something like this also sets up some of these boys for the long run with the club.”

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