In a major boost to the Jharkhand soccer fraternity, Jamshedpur FC on Tuesday became the first Indian football club to receive a membership of Global Football Alliance (GFA).
The Tata Steel-owned club became the 20th member to be accepted in the association, with the achievement being regarded as a milestone in Indian Football.
GFA boasts of some of the biggest names in global football as its members with the likes of AS Saint-Etienne, AEK Athens, Crystal Palace, Villarreal CF, AZ Alkmaar, VFL Wolfsburg, Melbourne Victory, New England Revolution, and so on. The members span across 18 countries globally, forming a strategic alliance of non-rival football clubs with the ambitious objective of sharing innovative ideas, creating synergies and leveraging the alliance on a global scale.
Jamshedpur FC CEO, Mukul Choudhari said, “We are proud to be the first and only Indian club representative of the Global Football Alliance. Being a member of GFA gives us a chance to leverage and synergise with some of the top clubs across the world who are a part of the association. With football in India picking up momentum and growing so rapidly, the alliance will prove to be a major milestone for the club as we look to learn from as well as contribute to the GFA.”
GFA’s mission is to establish a global alliance of football clubs, in order to become more competitive together and battle future challenges. The main aim of the project is to anticipate and mitigate the new risks, encourage clubs to rethink their strategy, and look together for innovative solutions.
The association is presided by Bernard Caïazzo, president of AS Saint Etienne. As a member club, Jamshedpur FC will be part of the General Assembly, which will meet quarterly in different locations around the world, hosted by clubs, or virtually, as the global context permits. Other than the General Assembly, the club will host virtual themed round tables for club members every month, besides hosting regular knowledge sharing webinars.
Jamshedpur FC was incorporated in 2017 and is a fully owned subsidiary of Tata Steel Limited. The club plays in the top tier of India’s football ecosystem like the Indian Super League (ISL), with the vision of producing top players and developing the community as a whole.
The club comes with a robust youth development at grassroot level and coach education programme, where it has achieved massive success and engagement. The club has set up 9 football schools in Jamshedpur with over 800 kids engaged and another 5000+ kids engaged via football festivals across the state of Jharkhand. The programme has also seen a collaborative effort with Tata Steel Foundation’s 25 football training centers in the Kolhan region of Jharkhand where over 2500 kids are trained regularly. The club’s commitment to develop football in the region also included creating 200 coaches in the region via various coach education programmes.
