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Football enthusiasts from Maharashtra can now get closely involved and inter-linked with the sport, thanks to an unique initiative by the Western Indian Football Association (WIFA) and The Football Mind, an exclusive football portal (www.thefootballmind.com).
The Football Mind is a communication portal that will not only connect the entire football community, but will also help individual players, teams, clubs, associations and every person connected with the game to set up their profiles, pages and websites free of cost.
“This (The Football Mind) networking concept will boost the communication for football and bring people from all districts closer. This will help develop and promote the game in Maharashtra,” said Souter Vaz, Hon. Secretary, Western India Football Association, during the launch on Tuesday evening.
With the help of this communication portal, WIFA will now be able to easily communicate as well as monitor all the activities being carried out by the various District Football Associations as well as their associated clubs/ institutions, players and coaches. From news updates to events, people will be more aware of the happenings of local football through this initiative. All the football activities being carried out in the state will now be available to a larger database of fans as well as youngsters who would be interested in taking up the game professionally.
“The World is becoming a smaller place through the internet, we need to use its power effectively to develop networking and communication. We applied this thinking to football and that’s precisely what our concept is about,” Pranesh Krishnamurthy, Co-founder and CEO of the website told media persons.
“Providing an online solution to the on-field issues faced by clubs and players be it scouting, networking or an effective means of communication is what the website looks to achieve. On our website we provide these facilities at absolutely no charges thus, eliminating the cost factor, and making it more viable for clubs across all divisions,” pointed out, Rohit Narayan, Co-founder and COO of the website.
Through this initiative, all Clubs, Academies and Institutions will now have their own webpage to help build their online presence as well as communicate to the fans. This will be provided free of cost making it a viable option even for the clubs at the grassroots level.
Players from the grassroots level will have a platform to showcase their talents to club officials, coaches, scouts as well as fans alike. This will help them build their profile and get better access to the top level clubs. Coaches, scouts, and various other entities can now have better visibility as they can share their knowledge as well as popularize their skills and achievements.
“WIFA has made tremendous progress in the past few years with their Grassroots Programs. Now with this fantastic initiative, WIFA and The Football Mind will make it easy for players to display their skills and get visibility and fans to be more aware about local football,” stated former Indian star Abhishek Yadav, who is a member of the ISL team Mumbai City FC.
“It’s fantastic to have such a portal as it will create more interesting amongst the football followers. There will also be more action between the fans and the players. This initiative would be a good encouragement for youngsters and help spread the game amongst kids. If you have the quantity, you will surely get quality and through this portal it will also help track young talent and good teams,” opined Yadav.
Players, coaches and other individuals will have the flexibility of creating their own football specific profile page with their photographs and videos. Thus, their skills and achievements will be available to all entities across the football fraternity. Fans can also make their profile and follow their favourite clubs and players and be updated about their tournament fixtures, events and more.
Functioning of the website:
All football related entities like governing bodies, football associations, clubs, players, coaches and fans can set up webpages for free on thefootballmind.com. These pages are built specific to the type of entity it will serve, thus giving all users a platform to create their unique football identity. WIFA as well as all its associated District Football Associations will be provided messaging tools to maintain effective communication. Clubs will be able to push their news and events by using simple tools provided on the website.
The Beta version of the website has been officially launched. In the coming few months, additional modules and features will be rolled out that will help make the website more effective and user friendly.
The new initiative had been appreciated by players, managers and officials alike, as the testimonials below indicate.
“I think initiatives like these that use technology to boost sport are needed to take Football in India to the level of popularity that is comparable to top footballing countries. The Football Mind is a great concept.”
– Khalid Jamil, Head Coach, Mumbai FC
“If every football player, coach and team can have an online presence on the Football Mind, the network that can be created and its use for improving football will be potentially huge.”
–Henry Picardo, Manager, Mumbai FC
“WIFA has made tremendous progress in the past few years with their Grassroots Programs. Now with this fantastic initiative, WIFA and The Football Mind will make it easy for players to display their skills and get visibility and fans to be more aware about local football.”
– Abhishek Yadav, Player, Mumbai City FC
“Local football needs to be popularized. An online solution will act as a catalyst to this process”
– Pyarelal Chaudhary, Vice President, Poona District Football Association
