Annanya Agarwal: Football in India is heading in right direction

The President of Vedanta Sports spoke about the initiatives taken by the entity to improve the grassroots development in Indian football.

There is a necessity to tap on the underlying potential of Indian football at the grassroots level. Prominent players emerge aplenty only when they are honed at an appropriate academy. Annanya Agarwal is the President of Vedanta Sports under which come the Zinc Football Academy and the Sesa Football Academy in Goa. He bears the torch to produce the most prominent domestic football talent.

Merely 28 years old, Agarwal is heading a two-decade-old institution, the SFA, that has groomed over 200 professional footballers. “Just like all Indian football fans, I have a dream of watching India participate in the FIFA World Cup one day. To achieve this dream, it is very clear that grassroots intervention is very important and that’s where we, at Vedanta, are committed to continue playing an active role in nurturing young football talents for the country,” he said in an exclusive chat with Khel Now.

Agarwal is also leading the Zinc Football Academy. The ZFA plies its trade to unearth upcoming football talents in Rajasthan. It is only a couple of years old, but has managed to create a laudable reputation so far.

Agarwal said, “Zinc Football, though established only two years ago, has already reached almost all the corners of Rajasthan through programs like Zinc Football Youth Tournament and other football clinics. The cream of the crop is trained in a fully residential program at our world-class infrastructure in Udaipur.”

“At Zinc Football, we have a vision to reach every talent in the state, no matter how remote it lies. Towards this, a massive outreach program has been laid out in Rajasthan to impart football coaching to over 350 passionate boys and girls by fully skilled football trainers through 12 community football centres – called Zinc Football Schools,” he mentioned about this novel project in the desert state.

Annanya Agarwal seems to understand that solely training young players in academies won’t suffice for their evolution as footballers. Hence, Vedanta go out of their way to formulate competitions to provide playing time to their athletes. The Vedanta Youth Cup and Zinc Football Youth Tournament allow players to compete against proficient counterparts from other teams. Agarwal elaborated on these two competitions.

“The inaugural edition of the Vedanta Youth Cup held in Goa brought together India’s top four corporate-backed residential football academies for the first time. Endorsed by the Goa Football Association, the Vedanta Youth Cup fully lived up to its aim of providing the country’s young footballers a platform to compete against each other and showcase their skills at a national level,” he spoke of the tournament held in the coastal state.

However, it is the competition conducted in Rajasthan that has grabbed more eyeballs. Barring AU Rajasthan FC, the state does not have much representation in the top tiers of Indian football. To transform this situation, Vedanta opted to commence their initiative right from the formative stages. In Agarwal’s own words, it was the bottom-up approach that delivered the goods for them in Rajasthan.

He elaborated, “Our sole motive behind Zinc Football Youth Tournament was to reach every corner of Rajasthan so that no talent goes unnoticed. The first edition started in January this year with an aim to cover over 5000 young boys and girls, with a bottom-up approach creating a funnel to identify and promote the best footballing talents in the state.”

During a recent visit to the facility in Udaipur, Blue Tigers skipper Sunil Chhetri had said, "Initiatives like Zinc Football, with the kind of world-class infrastructure that is there, will help uplift the cause of Indian football in the coming years. I wish I had access to infrastructure and facilities like this while growing up. With the right guidance, I am sure the kids here can go a long way not only within Rajasthan but at the national level as well.

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Furthermore, Vedanta Sports lay impeccable focus on nurturing women’s football. They managed to collaborate with the state association of Goa to set in motion a league and have completed three seasons so far. As evident from their earlier endeavors, this attempt promises to produce resounding results too. Agarwal explained, “In line with our focus on women empowerment, Vedanta Women’s League was launched in collaboration with Goa Football Association, to provide a platform for women footballers in the state to gain competitive experience and showcase their skills.”

He added, “The league is gaining popularity with successful completion of three editions, reaching out to over 300+ aspiring footballers. Two of these girls have even gone on to represent the senior national women’s team in various tournaments.”

The FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup is bound to generate some palpable interest about the female version of the sport in India. Agarwal aims to capitalize on that in the coming times. “The buzz around hosting an U-17 FIFA World Cup and the increasing popularity of our domestic leagues are signs that the sport in the country is heading in the right direction. With all major stakeholders contributing, I believe India will soon be considered among the top 10 nations in Asia, in both men’s and women’s football,” he asserted on the issue.

Further, Annanya Agarwal has some notable aspirations for his teams. He wants them to participate in the most competitive tournaments in the country. Asked about future ambitions for his initiatives, the entrepreneur quipped, “The first and foremost plan is to play in the I-League from next year. This will give our boys the chance to prove themselves at the highest level in the country.”

He further remarked, “Our senior teams at both Sesa Football Academy and Zinc Football will continue to participate in their state leagues. Our Zinc Football team of mostly U-16 boys came second in the Rajasthan state men’s league, where they were pitted against much more experienced teams and our boys are working hard for a better result this time round.”

Vedanta’s multiple academies were temporarily shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, they now look set to resume operations in accordance with the standard protocols of the state governments. “We wish to resume competitive training soon, but only after assuring the safety of our footballers and the people around them,” Annanya Agarwal concluded.