Debanjan Share Girls Academy, the first residential girls’ football academy in north Bengal located in Kalimpong, has been sending its girls regularly to various prestigious events in recent years.

Jayabrata Ghosh, who is an A-License coach of the Asian Football Confederation, and the academy's head coach, said that this year, eight players from the academy would participate in the Kanyashree Cup to begin from November 23. "They will represent Mathua, a Calcutta-based club, in the tournament,” Ghosh said.

The Kanyashree Cup, a state-level football tourney for girls, is organised by the Indian Football Association in Calcutta every year.

He said that last year, nine players from the academy participated in the same soccer league of IFA for ASOS Rainbow, another club.

Jayabrata Ghosh, the soccer coach

Two girls among them, Drishti Dewan and Susena Rai, were also called for selection trials in the Bengal team and the national team.

Ghosh, who is Bengal's only “coach’s educator” affiliated by the AIFF, also takes up the task of scouting promising players from remote villages of north Bengal.

These days, he is camping in Nandajhar, a village in North Dinajpur district.

The academy in Kalimpong, sources said, runs under the Debanjan Sen Foundation named after Debanjan Sen, a young sports enthusiast based in Calcutta, who died in a road accident some years back. After his demise, his father and friends used to organise sports activities, including soccer tournaments, across the hills in his memory. It was due to their initiative that the academy was established at the Scottish Universities Mission Institution (SUMI), a local school of the hill town.

Rayan Karthak Lepcha, one of the teachers of SUMI and the academy’s coordinator, said school authorities gave the ground and related infrastructure to coach the budding soccer players.

“It is the only girls’ soccer academy of the region accredited by the IFA. Currently, we have 18 players in the academy. In the coming month, some more promising footballers are likely to join the academy through our selection trial that will be held from December 16 to December 20,” said Lepcha.

He said that the selections are made by Ghosh, the head coach, and supported by five coaching staff.

“We are focusing on training girl players who are between 13 and 15 years old,” Lepcha added.