Liverpool, along with Standard Chartered Bank, have launched a program for nurturing football talent in over 2000 children from around 80 schools run by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
There are over 650,000 students from the financially challenged section of the society in over a 1000 schools run by the BMC.
Titled 'Go Forward', the plan will see 32 children being selected from a camp to undergo four-months of rigorous training with I-League players and the English club's coaches. The initiative will culminate in an exhibition match between the two BMC teams and the best of Mumbai’s public school football teams
“Go Forward is a significant milestone for promoting football in India," said Liverpool legend Phil Thompson at the launch. "It will be our endeavour to enable the final 32 children to interact and learn from the experience of past players and coaches from LFC.
"This is getting into grass roots football by involving the Municipal schools of Mumbai. This is the first time ever Liverpool is getting involved in such a scheme and, depending on its success, we can hopefully take it to other cities of India and other countries of Asia.
He added: "It's a fantastic and wonderful venture. It gives chance to school children to dream and aspire for bigger things in what they enjoy doing. But the important thing is this should be sustainable over the years.
"We are passionate about the community. We at Liverpool realize the need to give the community’s children the chance to enjoy football. That is one way of making sure the young remain attached to football and don’t take up other sports."
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