India to debut at the International FCBEscola Tournament

Nine young footballers, all born in 2001, will be representing the FCBEscola India at the forthcoming International FCBEscola Tournament to be held in Barcelona from March 25 to 28. The tournament will be held at the Mini Estadi facilities next to iconic Camp Nou.

Based on stringent parameters of FCBEscola, five footballers from Goa, three from Delhi-NCR and one from Jaipur have been selected to represent FCBEscola India. The team has been undergoing training at the FCBEscola India facility in Gurgaon and will be leaving for Barcelona on March 24.

Started in 2012, The International FCBEscola Tournament is an annual competition for the FCBEscola teams worldwide. The tournament will provide a chance for budding footballers from India to play against their peers from Japan, Brazil, South Korea, Dubai, Poland, Egypt, Kuwait and Spain. The selected footballers will undergo extensive training for one week, prior to their departure, at the FCBEscola India facility in Gurgaon. There are a total of 52 teams participating in the tournament. The FCBEscola India team will play in the Under-12 age group, which has a total of four groups and 22 teams. The FCBEscola India team is in Group A, along with teams from Spain, Catalonia and Brazil.

FCBEscola Delhi-NCR will start in The Heritage School, Gurgaon and IOS Maidan, Shivaji College Sports Centre for Excellence, Delhi on April 15, 2013.

Commenting on the team, Anu Jain, Director – Conscient Football, said, "It is a great moment for us at FCBEscola India. This is a fantastic team with nine exuberant young footballers who not only have the passion for the game but are immensely talented."

"We are happy that this team is getting to participate and we hope they have a great experience and enjoy the tournament. This will be tremendous exposure for them", said Antonio Claveria, Director- FCBEscola India Project, and added, "This is a great opportunity for us to show case our talent on an International level and we hope to do well."


The FCBEscola India team travelling to Barcelona includes

Flan Gomes (Goa), Bevan Bernard Monteiro (Goa), Samward Pereira (Goa), Shannon Viegas (Goa), Ayan Lall (Goa), Ameya Kanadikar (Jaipur), Parth Kothari (Delhi-NCR), Saarthak Mehrotra (Delhi-NCR), Kabir Krishna Rao (Delhi-NCR)

Officials
Sukhwinder Kumar (Coach, Conscient Football), Toni Claveria (Director, FCBEscola India Project), Tarun Goyal (Co-ordinator, Conscient Football), Anu Jain (Director, Conscient Football)

FCBEscola conducts open trials for its Academy in Delhi NCR

The true spirit of Republic Day was seen today at the IOS Maidan with football enthusiasts' from across the nation exhibiting camaraderie while vying with their peers to get a place at FCBEscola Academy Delhi. The ground reverberated as hundreds of footballers in the age groups of Under-8, U-10, U-12, U-14, U-16 and U-18 from over 200 schools and 38 cities played hard to secure themselves for the FC Barcelona's official football school in Delhi NCR.

The young guns ran tirelessly after the ball at the open trials conducted by FCBEscola to pursue their dream of being trained the Barca way. Apart from the ball possession or stop and pass, the football aficionado's were also judged on the values like tolerance, respect, solidarity, friendship, community spirit and integration. The trials will be a two stage process, with selected kids from today being called to a Final Trial in March. In the end, only a handful of highly talented kids will be invited to join the FCBEscola.

FCBEscola is the official football school of the top European club, FC Barcelona. The school operates with an intensive program that runs year round, in which the players train twice a week and play matches once every week. The Escola is open for players from age 6-17. Once a player is selected to the Escola he goes through a continuous development program under the watchful eyes of official coaches.

FC Barcelona boasts of some of the top names in world football who have come through their own youth development programs. Superstars such as Lionel Messi, Cesc Fabregas, Xavi Hernandez, Pep Guardiola, Gerard Pique, Victor Valdes, Carlos Puyol and Andres Iniesta are only a few of the illustrious players that have graduated from this system. The School, which is meant for serious footballers, will be headed by Antoni Claveria, Director of the FCBEscola India Project appointed by FC Barcelona. With the Escola, FC Barcelona aims to provide sustained world-class grassroots training to aspiring footballers and help India build the foundation for better performance at global level.

Speaking about the trials, Antoni Claveria, Director of the FCBEscola India Project said, "This will engage promising young players from across the country. We look forward to participating and hopefully seeing some of the young enthusiasts play competitive football in coming days. While we have shortlisted potential participants from the earlier camps, the trials will give impetus to finalise the students who are going to be part of FCBEscola Delhi. I am really excited to meet talent from India."

Team India Players visit FC Barcelona Camp in Delhi

Some of India's finest football talents in captain Climax Lawrance, defender Gouramangi Singh, winger Clifford Miranda plus strikers Jeje Lalpekhlua and C.S. Sabeeth yesterday visited the FCBEscola (FC Barcelona football school) training camp at The Heritage School in Gurgaon.

The Indian footballers interacted with the young participants, who got the chance to ask question, take autographs and also played a series of friendly seven a-side matches with the Team India players involving FCBEscola coaches Aleix Gibert Buxeda and Antoni Claveria.

FC Barcelona through FCBEscola in association with Conscient Football is running two training camps in the National-Capital-Region. The first camp was held at The British School, Delhi between December 30, 2011 - January 4, 2012 and the second ongoing camp is being held at The Heritage School, Gurgaon. A total number of 360 children are part of the two camps in the age group Under-8, Under-10, Under-12, Under-14 and Under-17, including 20 girls and 18 children from the economically weaker sections.

Ex-Barcelona player and now coach at FCBEscola Josep 'Pep' Moratalla is leading the training assisted by two Spanish coaches, six coaches from Conscient Football and six assistants.

Phenomenal response to the first FCBEscola camp in Delhi

The training camp of the FCBEscola (FC Barcelona football school) that concluded at The British School, Chanakyapuri in New Delhi today, witnessed 180 participants in the age group of Under-8s to U-17s being trained in the FC Barcelona training methodology. The second camp will take place at The Heritage School in Gurgaon.

The camp was for five days with extensive 15 hours coaching. There were 10 girls who participated in the different age groups at the camp. The training focused on technique, ethics, partnership and team building. Led by ex-Barcelona player and now coach at FCBEscola Josep 'Pep' Moratalla along-with to Spanish coaches and 12 coaches from Conscient Football, the training had a coach to player ratio of 1:6.

Pep Moratalla was very positive about the camp and said, "The enthusiasm in learning is the key factor for progress. We, at FC Barcelona instill the value of true sportsman's spirit and that is necessary for holistic development of a child. In Delhi, amongst all the participants at the camp, we saw unparalleled camaraderie. There is huge potential in the children and we hope that they will benefit from the initial training and continue to hone their skills."

Anupama Jain, Conscient Football Director, said, "This camp is just the beginning of a long relationship of FC Barcelona in India. FC Barcelona has extensively trained our coaches to carry forward the training methodology."

FCBEscola camp kicked-off in Delhi today

The much awaited FCBarcelona football training camp has started in Delhi. The FCBEscola, the FC Barcelona football school, in association with Conscient Football; began the first of the two camps at The British School, Chanakyapuri in New Delhi today, while the second camp will take place at The Heritage School in Gurgaon.

With 180 participants, the camp has been divided in two batches of 90 children each. The first phase of the camp is being held from today up to January 4, 2012 with January 1, 2012 being an day off. All participants received an official FCB Camp kit to wear during their 15 hours of FCBEscola training.

Ex-Barcelona player and now coach at FCBEscola Josep 'Pep' Moratalla is leading the training assisted by two other Spanish coaches, six coaches from Conscient Football and six further assistants. The participants are in the following age groups - Under-8, Under-10, Under-12, Under-14 and Under-17.

The camp is open to both boys and girls of all football playing abilities. During the intense sessions, participants will be trained in the same manner as the FC Barcelona players back in Spain.

Anupama Jain,Conscient Football Director, said, "This has been a great start as we have received phenomenal interest from players in Delhi as well as from other cities around the country. The participants represent over 80 schools and we have a number of girls who have registered for the camp which reflects the growth of football in India."

FCBEscola to start India Camps from December 30

FCBEscola, the FC Barcelona football school, in association with Conscient Football will start its first Indian football training camps in Delhi and Gurgaon from December 30, 2011 onwards.

Around 300 participants from across the the capital will be trained at two centres – The British School, Delhi and The Heritage School, Gurgaon. The camp at the British School will be held from December 30, 2011 to January 4, 2012 and at The Heritage School it will be held from January 6 - January 10, 2012. These will be five days intensive coaching camps with 15 hours of training given to each participant.

Scientifically developed, the training program is divided into three segments – Introduction, Pre-Training, and Training for youth in the age groups of 6–17 with the objective to provide world-class training under the same successful methodology that has produced leading football stars like Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta. The five day camp will take place on the pitch and in the classroom and will focus on the technical, tactical and off-the-pitch tools necessary to succeed in football and in life.

Ex-Barcelona player and now coach at FCBEscola Joseph Moratalla will be the head coach at the camps. He will be assisted by two Spanish coaches, six coaches from Conscient Football and six further assistants. The participants will be divided in following groups: Under-8, Under-10, Under-12, Under-14 and Under-17.

Announcing the Camp schedule, Anupama Jain, Director of Conscient Football, said, "The initial two camps will be held under the guidance of Joseph Moratalla and we hope that they will be a great start to the project and we will be able to grow them pan India very soon. We have already received interest from many other cities which clearly shows the popularity of football in India."