Bhaichung Bhutia, one of India’s first football superstars, will start an academy in Siliguri, a move that could be a game changer for the football crazy region.

The ace Indian striker had been looking at the state government for land for the project but with things failing to fall in place he decided to take personal initiative.

On his investment, Bhutia told The Telegraph: “I have just bought my own property in Siliguri to set up an academy. Earlier we were looking at the government to give land, so enough of it now.”

Bhutia’s disclosure comes close on the heels of his decision to revive the United Sikkim Football Club (UFSC).

The club, formed by Bhutia and two of his friends Sherpa Lepcha and Arjun Rai back in 2004, was among the top 10 clubs of India in its heydays.

Bhutia decided to wind it up in 2019. A couple of weeks back, he reversed the decision.

The Siliguri football academy could be a major boon for budding players from north Bengal. Expected to come up in the next few years, the academy is likely to be a training centre for the Sikkim club.

Topographically, it is challenging to get an open space for football training in Sikkim’s hilly terrain, so Siliguri is a better choice. Bhutia admitted “space is going to be very challenging in Sikkim”.

The former skipper of the Indian football team said United Sikkim’s training ground might be shifted to Siliguri.

“If we qualify for I-League or ISL (Indian Super League, the highest professional football league in India), than obviously while most matches will be played in Sikkim, we can look at having some matches in Siliguri as well, if the stadium does qualify for ISL standards,” said Bhutia.

A few decades back, Siliguri would host international matches but not of late.

Bhutia was in Darjeeling as a chief guest at the finals of a football tournament started by Darjeeling police. A total of 221 teams, including 25 women’s teams, registered for the tournament, a figure that surprised Bhutia. “It is a great initiative of Darjeeling police...I am surprised as you don’t get these numbers even in big states. There were quite a lot of talented girls,” said Bhutia.

Darjeeling police started the tourney as a part of its police-public outreach under the Khel Utsav initiative. Darjeeling police won both the men and women category to take home Rs 1 lakh each. Runners-up were men’s URFC Rangbull (Jorebunlow) and women’s TIIEDI’s WE FC (Sadar), who received Rs 50,000 each.