Barça to be the first club to set up Official Football School in India

Within two months of announcing its plan to enter India in October 2011, FC Barcelona completed the first FCBCamps in Dec 2011 and Jan 2012. With the second set of Camps already underway, more than a thousand enthusiastic young footballers will have experienced the Barca life. The participants have come from over a 100 schools and from more than 20 cities across the country like Delhi, Bengaluru, Kochi, Jaipur, Bhopal, Baroda & Pune to name a few. Taking forward its commitment, FCBarcelona today announced the setting-up of its official Football School

In October 2011, the Club announced that via FCB Escolas it would be linking up with Conscient Football to set up a campus in India with the aim of providing a long-term training and development platform for aspiring footballers in India for youngsters who wished to start on the road to serious training. Two campuses have already been held and have attracted more than a thousand enthusiastic young footballers to have experienced the Barca life. The participants have come from over a 100 schools and from more than 20 cities across the country. Continuing its commitment, FC Barcelona today announced the setting-up of its official Football School.

The Escola will be set up in association with Conscient Football and will be operational within 2012 with a capacity for around 300 players between 6 -14 years of age.  The Escola will follow the model of the Club’s other schools – aiming to inculcate the values of the Club throughout the world and offer a chance for India’s top young footballers to develop their skills.

After setting up the school in New Delhi, Barça and Conscient Football are aiming to set up other programmes in the country’s main cities such as Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, and Goa amongst others.

Ambitious project

In the press conference to present the school in New Delhi, the FCBEscola Director, Xevi Marcé, explained: “This is one of the most ambitious projects for FCBEscola worldwide. We hope to train 10,000 young footballers in the next three years and with FCBEScola we will provide the depth and the quality needed to develop coaches and players from a very young age. We are very excited to be here and to share our vision with Conscient Football”.

Antoni Claveria, director tècnic de l’FCBEscola de Delhi

Marcé introduced Antoni Claviera as the Technical Director for FCBEscola Delhi, who will be stationed in Delhi and he commented:”it was a great experience for me to start the Barca India project in Dec 2011 and now I am thrilled to be the Technical  Director of FCBEscola Delhi. I am looking forward to working with talented youngsters on a sustained and regular basis to nurture India’s young footballers.”

Finally, ex- Barça player Josep Moratalla, who is currently a coach on the FCBCampus, expressed his satisfaction at the programme and his conviction that it would be” a great success”