Not Man Utd or Arsenal, Bundesliga club Hoffenheim is making a difference to Indian football

There’s not a blade of grass at the Sabina Chandrashekhar municipal ground in Colaba, the posh southern tip of Mumbai. Just a sheet of fallen leaves over a bed of dust. Dust, that accumulates in your throat after barely 15 minutes of play. There’s a goalpost on either end of the field, but there are no nets. The setting is not too different from most football grounds in India, but the kids gathered there from schools and academies all across Mumbai don’t seem to complain. They are kicking around, ready in their kits and boots. There’s one, barely four-and-a-half-feet tall, not older than 13, in a Pirlo jersey. He’s passing the ball around with an even tinier James Rodriguez. [caption id=“attachment_2517680” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The fifteen kids from India who are currently undergoing training in Germany.[/caption] The instructor blows his whistle and they all fall in like boy scouts, ready to play football, eager to impress. Because if they impress, they might get something that few have — a chance. A chance to train and play football in Germany with Bundesliga side TSG 1899 Hoffenheim for the next six years. A chance to become professional footballers. A chance, that has already become a reality for 15 schoolchildren from all over India. Mumbai is one of the 11 destinations for the second edition of the ‘U Dream Football’ program, a combined initiative by Hoffenheim and U Sports, which shortlists talented football players under the age of 15 from all across India and sends them to Hoffeheim’s academy in Zuzenhausen, Germany. The first edition of the U Dream Football program shortlisted 15 young footballers from schools across India. In August, they flew to Germany. For the past three months they have been studying, training, learning, living and playing football at Hoffenheim’s training facility in Zuzenhausen. A home away from home Life isn’t too different in Germany for them. They still have to go to school and do their homework. “Their day starts with breakfast and then they have to go to school till noon,” Thomas Richter, Head of Professional Team Administration at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, told Firstpost during an interaction. “Education is taken seriously in Bundesliga.” Thomas has been working closely with the budding footballers at Zuzenhausen. He is in Mumbai currently with Lutz Pfannenstiel, Head of International Relations and Scouting at the Bundesliga club, for the second edition of U Dream Football program. Thomas and Lutz were involved in the selection of those fifteen young footballers and have been working with them for the past three months, monitoring their progress. “We did some conditional and technical tests when they arrived in Germany. Physically, they were good. But they are having problems with long and high passes. They need time to adjust,” says Thomas. All fifteen of them had been playing in small grounds in India their whole life. A full-size training ground in Germany will take time to get used to. They undergo five training sessions a week and giving them company is former Indian footballer Mahesh Gawli and All India Football Federation (AIFF) coach John Kenneth Raj. For the next six years, Gawli and Raj are not just their coach, but their friends, family and confidantes too. [caption id=“attachment_2517686” align=“alignright” width=“380”] “This is the perfect age for them to develop as footballers”[/caption] “We’ve got good feedback from Mahesh and John. They have a really good connection with the kids, who come to them if anything is wrong,” says Thomas. Apart from Gawli and Raj, three CBSE certified teachers too have accompanied them for this six-year long journey. They school the children according to CBSE curriculum. Sure, those children have gone there for football, but that doesn’t mean they have any leeway when it comes to studies. The program is designed in a way such that the selected children develop in all aspects and grow up like any 15-year-old. After training sessions, which end at 4 pm, they take classes in German. They were also taken to a Bundesliga game between Hoffenheim and Werder Bremen — a firsthand experience of top-tier football. “It’s a big step. They are in a different country, in a different culture, but I think they have adjusted really well. The Indian teachers ensure that they don’t lose their culture and suddenly think they are German. They are still connected to their Indian roots,” Lutz, who is also an instructor with the German FA, told Firstpost. Many big European clubs have opened academies in India. Arsenal and Manchester United soccer schools are probably the most popular ones. Liverpool too opened a Steve McMahon football academy in Delhi. Beyond the Premier League favorites, Paris Saint Germain has opened academies in Gurgaon and Bangalore and Inter Milan plans to open its first academy in Asia at Hosur, Tamil Nadu. While these academies provide the first class football experience, they do not commit to a long-term program aimed at making professional footballers out of aspiring kids. It is not just about putting a smile on their faces. An intensive football academy must also be able to put a buck in their pockets after the program runs its course — make them able enough to play football at the highest level in India or elsewhere. And for that, Hoffenheim’s all-hands-on-deck approach is required. Scouting for talent The process of selection wasn’t an easy one. Coaches from Hoffenheim went across the country to over a 1000 schools in 46 cities, scouting talent at inter-school tournaments and football clinics. Thomas says they look for players with qualities in different positions, players who are quick on their feet and are intelligent on the field. “They must have solutions before they receive the pass,” says Thomas. “If you ask any young player what position they play in, they say ‘striker’. But they might have a skill they don’t recognise. We identify those skills and decide what position is best suited for them.” The 15 students shortlisted in the first edition maintain the mix and chemistry of any football team with goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders and forwards comprising the team. In the second edition, the program plans to shortlist two teams with 15-20 students in each team, who will fly to Germany in July 2016 and join the 15 children already there. The second edition is more focused, and is scouting in 11 Indian cities compared to 46 the first time around. “It is not possible to look at all cities. We learnt a lot from the first edition of the program and are now focusing on cities with higher concentration of talent,” says Thomas. This time, the program will also launch an online hunt, where aspiring footballers under the age of 15 can upload their videos of football skills for selection. The inception of a dream India is a nation which is mad about sports. But when it comes to embracing a sport and accepting it as a profession and not just a leisure activity, there’s still a long way to go. Cricket has always been the country’s darling, but love for football is on the rise. India is gearing up to host the 2017 Fifa U-17 World Cup and ISL has attracted big names. U Dream Football program took birth in an interesting time in Indian football. [caption id=“attachment_2517688” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] “Recognising skill at an early age and working on it over a long period of time is the way to develop football at grassroots”[/caption] It all started in 2014 when Hoffenheim came for a post-season tour to India. Hoffenheim representatives and U Sports CEO Supratik Sen got together and the idea for this intensive residential football program came through. Of course, there were a lot of hurdles, a ton of paperwork and government permissions being the first of them. It was a program that would take young and aspiring footballers to Germany for six years. Convincing their parents, assuring them was not an easy task. Sure the kids would come back to India at-least three times a year for holidays. In fact, all 15 of them will be coming back home for the holidays next month. But, again six years is a long time. Fifteen year old kids would become 21-year-old adults in that duration. But if everything goes well, they would also be ready to take on the world of professional football and live their dream by the end of the program. “If everything works out perfectly, they have a chance to become professionals playing in Germany, Europe. They’ll also have a great advantage to become very well educated football players who can ply their trade in the ISL or the I-League,” says Lutz. The perfect opportunity There has been a resurgence in football consciousness in India after the inception of the ISL. Many young footballers can now aspire to play professionally in India and achieve success. Incidentally, ISL began around the time when U Dream Football was taking shape. ISL provides a popular platform to aspiring footballers, but developing football at the grassroots level, although an aim of the ISL, is not an easy task. “Recognising skill at an early age and working on it over a long period of time is the way to develop football at grassroots. We are talking a small step in that direction,” Thomas tells Firstpost. Hoffenheim do not claim that they will bring about a football revolution in India. But Richter says there is an idea of opening an academy here, so that more young footballers can benefit. As for the young footballers who have gone to Germany, it’s an opportunity of a lifetime. From the dusty grounds and streets of India, to the world class training academy of a Bundesliga club, it’s a big leap. The change could be surreal, even daunting and there will be pressure to excel. But Thomas believes it should be a positive pressure to focus on the field and make the most out of it. “After all, a professional footballer has to deal with all this,” he says. In the future, they will play and train with the Hoffenheim youth team once they reach the required level of fitness and skill. Those who show promise could also get a chance to sign a contract with the club. “Why not,” says Thomas. “It’s only a question of quality.” For now Hoffenheim coaches are working on the physical conditioning of the players to get them up to the mark with Hoffenheim U-15 team in terms of physicality. Tactics will come later. “This is the perfect age for them to develop as footballers. Before this age there shouldn’t be much tactics involved, they just need to have fun and play football, enjoy themselves and be wild,” says Lutz. Thomas says the kids are very motivated and want to get better. They are learning. They have all the facilities, coaching staff and analysers at their disposal. But learning is a two way process. As those kids get to know football the German way, Hoffenheim too will get to know them better over the course of six years. As Thomas puts it, “At this level in football, you don’t know what you get. These children are like wrapped presents. You have to open it to know what’s inside.”