Where talent meets opportunity! IKF set to bridge the gap between grassroots & professional football in India

What happens when talent meets opportunity? For someone who’s trying to be the master of the craft, it is a blessing. But for the talent to meet the right opportunity, there has to be a medium. And that's exactly what India Khelo Football (IKF) is trying to be for the n number of young footballers in the country who have a passion for the sport but struggle to find the right way to reach the top and make their dream come true.

The non-profit organization is leading the way to democratizing the football scouting process in the country, which will help footballers to reach new heights and make viable careers.

In a conversation with Timesnowsports, IKF's Founding Member, Hitesh Joshi, explains the initiative and tells us that IKF aims to identify talent from the grassroots of India and provide a bridge for opportunities to be able to play for I-Leagues and Indian Super League Clubs- most transparently and democratically.

As a crowning stroke, the top talents selected by European scouts get a chance to travel to Spain for trials and training camps. It is a revolution for aspiring Indian football players, as most still struggle to find the right path to reach the top.

When asked about the movement and the birth of its idea, Joshi said, "IKF is a non-profit initiative which was started with a single objective to pave a structured path for aspiring football players in India. Currently, there is a vast disconnect between grassroots and professional ecosystems in India. The players lack the knowledge of how to get scouted and fulfill their dreams.''

"Seeing the issue, we realized that the need of the hour is an integration between the grassroots and the professional system for a structured career path. We believe that once this structured path is in place, a massive talent pipeline will be established, which will massively impact Indian football in the long run. It is the main purpose of IKF, as many players who get an opportunity in the professional ecosystem happen majorly by chance or luck. However, we feel that a proper process will uplift the grassroots football talent which exists in abundance in the country. Since there was a lack of such a structure, we took it upon ourselves to create that complete structure."

Sharing the details about how IKF functions and how it helps the young budding footballers, Hitesh said that they try to give a platform where talent and opportunities unite. IKF brings in top ISL and I-Leagues clubs under one roof to scout the best-in-class talent for Indian football.

"We have created a pan-India platform under which we go across India and conduct physical trials for 1-2 days at the grassroots level, targeting specifically in the age group of 13–17 years old to scout exceptional talent from these cities. The talent gets filtered in the pre-finals, where the shortlisted group advances to National Trials. During national trials, we invite scouts from ISL, I-Leagues, International Academies, Agents, clubs, etc., to bring the biggest opportunities under one roof. In the national finals, we allow this talent and these opportunities to meet with each other and carry their path ahead."

IKF successfully conducted Season 1 of its trials last year, which happened in 17 cities and was a big hit, and this year, they have already kickstarted Season 2 and are planning to cover 24 cities.

"The response for Season 1 has been splendid - we witnessed participation from 3000+ kids. Around 240+ kids got selected from 17 cities, among which 104 kids qualified for the National Finals. During the national trials, we had scouts from ISL and I-League clubs who came to see these talented young players. There were 2 Premier League scouts who flew in from the UK; one scout from a Spanish club; and one from a Poland-based academy. Finally, 20 kids got selected by these people for further trials in respective clubs and academies. We also conducted trials in Leh and Kargil, as the talent is highly enthusiastic. We will also be there this season on 23rd October to facilitate trials with the Ladakh Football Association.

Apart from this, 7 kids with the utmost potential in the game are gearing up for trials in Spain with Spanish clubs free of cost in November-December 2022. We are honored to have witnessed this undiscovered talent in the country and to be able to connect them with the professional Football ecosystem. We are also looking forward to our Season 2 trials and seeing more of the splendid talent in the country. Since our process is meritorious, we would like to send every participant the best wishes and give a big shoutout to our Regional Execution Partners, who help make this come to reality", he added.

For the second season of IKF trials, boys and girls- ages 12 to 16 can participate by registering here at just INR 250.

IKF has recently appointed Subrata Dutta, Former Senior VP at AIFF and the Member of the Board Of Directors LOC FIFA U-17, Women's World Cup, as Advisor to its initiative.

"IKF is trying to bridge the gap between the grassroots Football ecosystem by connecting it to the professional Football environment. I am happy to become a part of their initiative and look forward to working with them in the best capacity to make the Indian dream of worldwide Football recognition come true. I believe in the program’s vision to streamline and democratize professional Football for aspiring players so we can increase the participation from India", Dutta said during his appointment.

Aaran Pilot, one of the top 7 finalists of IKF Season 1, shared his experience and said,'' It was the first time I was performing to get scouted, and I was thrilled to know about getting shortlisted. I was introduced to IKF through my coach Ayush Rayal from Ballers FA. It was one of the most amazing experiences to play the National Finals at Ambedkar Stadium as it was the first time I had witnessed the most talented players in one place, everyone was good at every position."