The Mission XI Million is live. Who will be the key stakeholders to propagate the beautiful game in the Maximum City? A


Mission XI Million

A lot has been said about India needing to develop the beautiful game at the a?basea. Base being our school kids. Only then will the long-term results bear fruit, the fruit being Indiaas best ever assembled National and Club teams. It is in this regard that plans were made at the Football House, New Delhi. buy celebrex online without prescription, buy Zoloft online.

The All India Football Federation being the administrative head of football in the country, with support of the Indian Government have come up with a massive school contact programme which will occur in the months leading up to the U-17 FIFA World Cup. And the onus of executing this plan in Mumbai, lied upon Aaditya Thackeray led Mumbai District Football Association.

At the ground level the plan will work along these lines:

Phase One: Reaching out to School Principals, School Sports Teachers and Coaches.

Phase Two: Conduct seminars at schools. Educate the teachers present regarding standard FIFA format gameplay for kids, training drills and sessions.A

Phase Three: Distribute practice equipment and technical manual to registered schools.

Phase Four: Conduction of Football festivals regularly, designed by FIFA and AIFF.

Phase Five: Feedback and regular contact with Programme guides to seek guidance and further assistance.

The programme, aptly titled a?Mission XI Milliona, targets 36 cities, 15000 schools, hence covering over 11 million schoolchildren. The success of the programme in Mumbai hugely depends on the enthusiasm and willingness of Schools to register themselves for a seminar. An impetus to the city, is that football is on the rise, backed by a number of developments which can directly be linked to the year 2013, when Aditya Thackeray began his chairmanship of the Mumbai District Football Association. His patronage of the Mumbai Football Arena, among a host of other plans has reaped dividends for the sport across Mumbai.

Andheri-Sports-Complex-2.-AIFF-Twitter
Mumbai Football Arena

The venue is used for conducting MDFA Super division matches, and also played host as the home stadium of the ISL franchise Mumbai City FC, co-owned by Bollywood star Ranbir Kapoor.A The ground is crucial, well connected via metro as well as the suburban rail network and to top it off, situated at the heart of the suburbs. The trump card of the venue is that its been retrofitted with a perpendicular drainage system, ideal for all kinds of weather, specially monsoon. The nine-month redevelopment bore fruitAwhen FIFA gave its nod to host an official International match at Andheri. Mumbai FCas Mumbai Football Academy is hosted at the complex too, with facilities being notches above normal standards.

There had been a brief phase when the iconic St.Xaviersa Ground at Parel was included as one of the open spaces to be reclaimed by the BMC. However, the knowledge that the football ground was being maintained under the MDFA stewardship resulted in common sense prevailing over rash decisions, a decision which could have set football back by a few years.A Small, but big and significant steps have resulted in increased traction of the sport.

The BMC has approved a couple of major programs to begin in March, 2017:

1. Just Play – an organisation from the Pacific Region, supported by FIFA, to impart lessons on hygiene, sanitation and gender equality, all through football. An agreement has been signed in this regard, between AIFF, Football Federation of Australia and OceanicAFootball Confederation, where the programs are being implemented successfully.

The Target group for the Just Play program are schools run by the BMC, totally 1231 in number in which 3,76,731 students study. Volunteers from around Mumbai have already resumed their training to become Just Play trainers, to implement the program at schools.

2.AKasratA- AAfitness module by Jackky Bhagnani that will revolutionise our PT (Physical Training) classes to make exercise entertaining and efficient.


The football development plan is in full swing, with MDFA and WIFA right at the heart of it. The Mission XI Million is backed by the government, but it is the District and State football bodies who will work in tandem with Schools and School Sports associations to give an impetus to make the Mission succeed in the maximum city.

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