Elite AIFF Recognition for Sesa Football Academy
Vedanta’s Sesa Football Academy (SFA) has received the elite 3-star All India Football Federation (AIFF) Accreditation for youth development. The confirmation was received as part of the AIFF announcement of the Phase 1 results for its 2024-25 Academy Accreditation. The accreditation is based on a stringent evaluation of the football academies, and the ratings recognise the academies that conform to AIFF standards. The ratings are a reflection of the level of accomplishment of a academy in furthering the goals of football development in India. A total of 15 academies from across India have attained the 3-star rating in the ‘residential category’ with SFA being the only one from Goa. The competition for the ratings was touch with overall 119 academies having registered for evaluation.
The academies are evaluated against 11 criteria with nine being mandatory and two optional. Amongst the mandatory criteria are the ones on minimum number of age group teams, requisite coaching sand technical staff, AIFF approved curriculum & training plan, designated talent acquisition and recruitment set up, player progression, facilities & infrastructure standards, medical provisions including physio & insurance cover,participation in leagues & competitions, and structured academy administration support. Amongst the optional criteria are facilities for girls football and conduct of events. To pass the stringent standards an academy is required to score a min of 157 points.
Congratulating SFA on the development, Dr Caitano Fernandes, President , Goa Football Association, said ” The award of the 3-star rating in the AIFF Academy Accreditation process is a matter of great honor and pride for SFA and Goan football. This development is a result of the hardwork and commitment of the entire coaching and technical team at SFA. I am thankful to Vedanta Sesa Goa for having supported the project wholeheartedly over the last 25 years and despite various challenges. SFA’ focus on age group football for both boys and girls and its commitment to providing a platform to the youth through the Vedanta Youth Cup and the Vedanta Women’s League has had a positive impact on Goan football. SFA is now a premier national level Academy and the technical and coaching expertise that it has developed will help usher in a period of renewed growth for Goan football.”
Speaking on the development , Mr Navin Jaju, CEO, Sesa Goa, said “Heartiest congratulations to SFA on the prestigious 3 Star AIFF Accreditations for its transformational program aimed at developing grassroots and youth football. The accomplishment testifies to our commitment to providing the best-in- class coaching and technical support for nurturing the dreams of our exceptionally talented youth across Goa and opening pathways for prosperity through sporting excellence.”
Ms Leena Verenkar , Head CSR & SCDF , said “ SFA has over the past 25 years served the loval youth and Goan football well by constantly investing in the facilities, coaching & technical staff and in consistently expanding the age groups that it has taken under its wings. The expansion of the project to include women and girls as also to expand the number of age group teams has been exceptional and more so because of the requisite facilities that it has put in place to help helm the coaching programs. The contribution made by the Academy in nurturing futures and dreams of the boys and girls of Goa is phenomenol. This accomplishment is the result of years of committed hardwork from the entire team at SFA and most importantly due to the commitment levels of the boys and girls fuelling the future football dreams of India.
SFA is a flagship CSR project of Vedanta Sesa Goa foundation & is managed under the aegis of the Sesa Community Development Fund (SCDF). SFA aims to develop quality footballers from the state of Goa and across the country by creating environment for discovering, nurturing, and building talent for Indian Football. The academy identifies and trains talented youngsters, who are passionate about Football at the grassroot level by inducting them into its residential programme and over a period of four years, nurtures and develops them into professional footballers and well-disciplined citizens while taking care of their academic education throughout the residential training programme.
SFA has groomed over 180 boys since its inception in 1999 and has made tremendous impact on the football fraternity across the country. Most of the academy alumni have represented the National team, I-League clubs, and prestigious football clubs across the nation. 11 players have earned the National team cap and many alumni have played the elite Indian Super League (ISL). Recently the SFA senior men’s team has broken through to the I-League 3 stage and performed admirably. The Academy also has an extremely well honed technical program and is instrumental in running AIFF approved coaching license courses for aspiring coaches from all across India.
Apart from Residential football training programmes through Sesa Football Academy, Vedanta has also launched Vedanta women’s league (VWL) in collaboration with GFA, which is one of its kind platforms for aspiring women footballers across Goa state. 1000+ Women footballers from across Goa have represented various clubs in the 7 editions of VWL so far. Apart from this, the SFA has contributed to reviving age-group football for both boys and girls through the conduct of the U-15 Youth Cup for boys and the inaugural Sesa Vedanta U-15 Youth Cup for girls and has collaborated with AWES for organising four editions of veterans’ tournament as well.
About Vedanta Cares
Vedanta is committed to reinvest in the social good of its neighbourhood communities and the nation. The Group’s flagship CSR project, Nand Ghar, is a network of model anganwadis where the thrust is on inclusive development of women and children at the grassroots level. The Group CSR initiative comprises of seven key verticals – Education, Healthcare, Water and Sanitation, Sustainable Livelihood, Skilling, Sports & Culture and Employee Volunteering. Vedanta Foundation, a philanthropic initiative of Vedanta Group is focused on skill development and vocational training programmes for the underprivileged to make them employable. A key healthcare speciality CSR project is the Balco Medical Center, a 200-bed state-of-the-art Cancer care hospital located in New Raipur, Chhattisgarh. The company supports grassroots level sports through their Football academies in Goa and Udaipur.
About Vedanta Limited
Vedanta Limited, a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources Limited, is one of the world’s leading Oil & Gas and Metals company with significant operations in Oil & Gas, Zinc, Lead, Silver, Copper, Iron Ore, Steel, and Aluminium & Power across India, South Africa, Namibia, and Australia. For two decades, Vedanta has been contributing to India’s growth story, currently contributing 1 percent of India’s GDP. The company is among the top private sector contributors to the exchequer with the highest ever contribution of INR 42,560 Crore in FY 2019. Governance and sustainable development are at the core of Vedanta's strategy, with a strong focus on health, safety, and environment and on enhancing the lives of local communities. The company has been conferred the CII-ITC Sustainability Award, the FICCI CSR Award, Dun & Bradstreet Awards in Metals & Mining, and certified as a Great Place to Work. Vedanta Limited is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange in India and has ADRs listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
About SESA Football Academy
An initiative of SESA Community Development Foundation (SCDF), SESA Football Academy (SFA) was founded in 1999 for the holistic development of the local youths through football. The academy has created the conditions for discovering, creating and building talent for football. SFA does not restrict itself to football trainings but involves in a long term residential program which takes care of the formal education, skill development of the trainees during the four-year training period.
The academy has a strong focus on women empowerment through football. Since inception, SFA has trained around 200 footballers and has made tremendous impact on the football fraternity in Goa as well as across India. The graduates from SFA are serving in the national teams, Indian Super League (ISL), I-League clubs of India and clubs in Goa. 7 players have earned the national team cap and several players played the elite ISL.