The Story
Respect the football of the past. Study the contemporary game. Anticipate the football of the future.
Where it began
The work predates the federation. In 2015–16, FFCI’s founder was instrumental in forming fifteen non-residential football academies under Eastern Coalfields Ltd and in setting up a Centre of Excellence at ECL headquarters — a project initiated jointly by the SAI Regional Centre and Coal India. The lesson of that work became the federation’s premise.
FFCI was founded in Kolkata by football people who kept meeting the same problem: everywhere in India, someone is teaching this game — and almost nobody ever taught them how. Led by founder and President Sanjoy Kumar Banerjee, it began with one course. Eight years later the work spans license courses, grassroots leagues, girls’ programs and the recognition of coaches whose service had gone unrecorded.
How FFCI thinks about the game
The challenge is to define a successful modern Indian playing style — one that incorporates analysis of the world’s top teams and top-level football while maintaining India’s unique strengths: realistic changes to the traditional game, made without giving up its identity. Copying keeps you a step behind, and defining puts you a step ahead. FFCI’s team playing philosophy names three pillars.
- Attacking play
- A proactive brand of football, based on effective possession, with the winning edge provided by creative individuals.
- Defensive play
- Quick transition and intelligent collective pressing.
- Playing style
- Underpinned by a strong team spirit, capitalizing on India’s traditional strengths.
