The academy will be called “The Lion’s Academy”
Aston Villa, the British football club will be opening a Football Academy in New Delhi, India. This will be the first time the club will open an academy outside England.
Dr Tony Jiantong Xia, the new owner of Aston Villa met with the Human Resources Development Minister Prakash Javadekar.
Xia subsequently revealed Aston Villa’s plans in a press conference. The businessman highlighted the opening of the Academy and developing an alliance with the Indian Super League (ISL).
ISL is a popular football competition in India and the fourth most attended domestic league.
Xia stated his aspirations for the global expansion of Aston Villa at the press conference:
“Aston Villa Football Club, one of the most successful football clubs in the history of English football, plans to expand globally and India is one of the countries where Aston Villa not only wants to have an ISL club but also open football academies all over India”
The Indian Ministries of both Sports and Education were present.
“The Lion’s Academy”, will provide all new facilities which will include a 3G Pitch, new offices, classrooms and many other resources.
It’s agreed that Delhi Municipal Council will provide the property. Children aged 5 and above will be able to get trained.
Nonetheless, the multi-millionaire wants to instil football in the national sports curriculum for Indian state schools.
The schools will be provided with training coaches who will educate the kids on the sport.
Xia further spoke about his interest about supporting India in hosting the U17 world cup:
“Aston Villa has one of the best football academies in the world and has fans all over the world and some of our famous fans include David Cameron, Prince William, Tom Hanks and, using our network, we also want to help promote the U17 FIFA World Cup being held in India next year and make it a big sports celebration in India.”
The Chinese entrepreneur has ambitions to expand the football team but he wants the Club gain support from fans internationally.
Thus, Xia has made plans for the Club to tour to India and China. This will take place before 2016-2017 football season begins.
Aston Villa is one of the biggest football clubs in England which was founded in 1874. The club is situated in Villa Park in Birmingham, England’s second largest city.
The team became European Champions in 1982, achieving a ‘star’ on the Birmingham Walk of Fame.
In 1996 they won the League Cup and they have also won seven domestic First Division titles.
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