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”