New Delhi, February 18 The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ryan Group of Institutions to introduce structured football and futsal programmes across the group's schools.
Under this partnership, the AIFF will provide comprehensive technical support, including designing grassroots football and futsal frameworks, delivering standardized coaching curricula and session plans, conducting grassroots leader courses, and providing safeguarding training for school staff.
The Ryan Group of Institutions, on the other hand, will offer educational programs for players at the AIFF TDS centres in Hyderabad and Bhubaneswar.
This initiative places special emphasis on the development of school futsal and girls' football, two critical areas for growing the sport at the grassroots level.
The partnership will create dedicated programmes and competitions in futsal, making the sport more accessible within school environments, while also establishing structured pathways to encourage and support female participation in football across all age groups.
AIFF deputy secretary general M. Satyanarayan said, "This partnership will help expand structured football programmes in schools and strengthen the development pathway for young players.
"Working with a large school network allows us to introduce organized training, coach education, and safeguarding standards at the grassroots level."
Ryan Group of Institutions CEO Ryan Pinto said, "This collaboration will support student participation in organized sport while helping create opportunities for football training and competition across our network. Through this partnership, we would like to focus on futsal at the youth level, and girls' football."