How these UAE kids got a chance to become professional footballers in India

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India, a country where cricket is a quasi-religion, there are still people who dream of gaining a foothold in the cut-throat world of football.

Hitesh Joshi was one such man who aspired to become a professional footballer in India where cricketers are worshipped every single day.

Having failed in his attempt due to the lack of a pan-India platform, Joshi used his skills as a management professional to create a pathway for aspiring footballers in India.

With support from corporate houses, Joshi and his close associate, Phani Bhushan, founded India Khelo Football (Let’s Play Football, India), in Mumbai to offer a platform for young footballers at the grassroots level.

The initiative was aimed at identifying talented young footballers and helping them earn a trial at India’s professional football clubs.

The first IKF trials drew thousands of talented kids across India last year. The youngsters selected at the IKF trials then earned a chance to attend trials conducted by professional clubs.

The response for the one-of-kind project was huge in India last year. Buoyed by the resounding success, Joshi and Bhushan recently held their first-ever IKF trial in the UAE.

The trial, held at Salman Farsi Iranian School, Dubai, saw the participation of 90 teenage footballers, out of which 30 were selected.

“IKF will now connect clubs with the players (selected in Dubai). Clubs and parents will then take it ahead from there,” Joshi told the Khaleej Times.

“In India, it’s still not easy to become a professional footballer. So we wanted to create a structured career path for aspiring football players by integrating grassroots football with professional football to make some positive change for aspiring football players. We have already started it in India, and now we are expanding it in the UAE by using the same platform.”

The IKF, which acts as a bridge between grassroots football and professional clubs in India, is hoping to make a big impact in the UAE.

“Our experience was that many players from the UAE started travelling to India for our trials. So we decided to extend this platform to the Middle East, and that’s how we came up with the idea of conducting a trial in Dubai,” Joshi said.

“The response in Dubai has been very exciting. The young footballers with Indian passports have never got such an opportunity before. It’s a unique platform for them which gives them multiple opportunities to become professionals.

“Our team reached out to the Indian communities and the schools and everybody rolled out the red carpet for our foundation, thanks to our partners in Dubai.

“It was very important to find the right people who could support our project in Dubai. It’s a very important place and it’s a place where a lot of young Indian kids want to play football.

“As I said, at our India trials, we saw a lot of Dubai and Sharjah kids who flew to India just to attend the trials and then they flew back.”

Now kids of Indian expats won’t have to travel to India for a chance to become a professional footballer.

“Parents were super grateful for the opportunity to showcase their kids to so many clubs and academies in one place,” Joshi said. “They have requested IKF to conduct more such trials in the UAE so that more players get the opportunity.”