SLFC tie up with Danish club FCV Vikings
By Lamphrang Nongspung
KOLKATA: Shillong Lajong FC entered a new era on Wednesday when in a first-of-its-kind initiative in Indian football, a multinational corporation owned by a Non Resident Indian (NRI) announced the acquisition of 25 per cent stake in the premier I-League club of the North East.
This latest development has also created a new landmark bringing about the first Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the history of Indian Football.
The Dubai-based NRI investment firm, Anglian Holdings, which signed the deal also facilitated Lajong’s agreement with the Denmark-based First Division football club FC Vestsjaelland (also known as FCV Vikings), in which it has similar investments.
The tie-up would coordinate transfer and exchange of knowledge and expertise which will create an Indo-European pipeline for bi-directional exchange of talent and knowledge thus marking a global roadmap for Indian football as a whole.
In fact, Anglian Football, a subsidiary of ‘Anglian Holdings’, is aiming to take Indian football to the next level by scouting, training and promoting potential Indian talent.
Announcing this, Dhruv Ratra, CEO Sports of Anglian Holdings, said, initially they are planning this venture ‘for a period of five years’.
“Then we will see how things pan out… We have chosen the Shillong Club because of its strong fan base. They are really a promising lot. We hope this turns out to be a successful venture,” Ratra said.
“We would be actively looking at scouting, training and promoting Indian football talent, using Shillong Lajong FC and FCV Vikings as channels to take Indian football to the world stage,” he added.
Ratra, meanwhile, clarified that they would not have any say in Lajong’s team composition but would chart out aggressive talent hunt programme to identify budding talents in India. It may be mentioned that the MNC founded by its current chairman Uday Narang, an Indian entrepreneur who has lived and worked in the United States and Europe for the last 25 years, had recently announced its investment in FCV Vikings and aims to set up a world-class academy in India with technical expertise from Europe.
Both Anglian Holdings and the Danish Club would now assist Lajong in setting up a world class football academy with an aim to scout new talents ‘who would be responsible to take Indian football to new heights’.
As a result of this agreement, Shillong Lajong would look to provide players who can contribute towards the national team in the next five to seven years. Whereas, the Danish Club believes that in the coming years they would be able provide an opportunity to young Indian players to play for the club.
The two clubs formally entered into an agreement with the exchange of the team jerseys by FC Vestsjaelland president Kurt Anderson and SLFC general secretary M Larsing Sawian in the presence of representatives of Anglian Holdings including Ratra during a function at Park Hotel in Kolkata on Wednesday.
As part of the agreement, the two clubs have agreed towards creating a pipeline for bi-directional exchange of talent, knowledge and expertise between them.
“I am really happy with the agreement with a club like Shillong Lajong who believe in youth development. I am a firm believer that a club should be built with the upcoming young talent and not by bringing football legends to build the team,” Anderson said.
Stating that he is always concerned as to why football has not really grown in India, he said that he always wanted to contribute towards the growth of football in India.
“I am really happy that finally I have been able to do something for promotion of football in India,” Anderson said while adding that they would provide the young talents with the best coaching and training facilities available.
“We would take some of the upcoming players from SLFC for training to Denmark. Personally I would like see that some young players from India play for my club in the Danish Premier League,” the FC Vestsjaelland president said.
Anderson also said that he would like to bring his whole team to play against SLFC in Shillong so that they would be able to mark the weak and strong points of both the teams.
Sawian stated that the tie-up is a great thing for Indian football since it is for the first time that there is a FDI for promotion and development of football.
“We are delighted that Anglian Holdings has come forward to support Lajong and we believe that it is a step in the right direction as far as Indian football is concerned. We are also appreciative of FCV Vikings and are confident their expertise and technical soccer knowhow will help Lajong players to take their game to next level,” he said.