New Delhi: Bharti Airtel, a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa, today announced the kick-off of the second edition of ‘Airtel Rising Stars’ (ARS) – India’s largest under-16 soccer talent hunt. Started in association with Manchester United (one of the best soccer clubs in the world) last year, ‘Airtel Rising Stars’ is a rigorous scouting program that will screen young footballers across India for capabilities and skillsets basis their performance in tests, real time match simulations etc.
The ARS program is open to individual entries and evaluate students from over 450 schools spread across 7 cities in India, and will finally handpick the country’s top 11 under-16 footballers who will get the chance-of-a-lifetime to attend a week-long training camp with Manchester United Soccer Schools and possibly kick-off a career in professional football.
ARS 2013 was flagged off earlier today at a press conference held in the presence of Manchester United football legend Gary Pallister and Mohit Beotra (Chief Brand Officer – Bharti Airtel, India). The 3-months’ long Inter-Schools Tournament-cum-talent hunt will be conducted in seven cities (Mumbai, Delhi, Goa, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Guwahati) with the support of the respective State and District Football Associations.
Delighted to announce the commencement of ARS 2013, Gary Pallister of Manchester United added, “With a base of 35 million Manchester United followers in India, we started working with Airtel on the ARS program last year and were more than pleasantly surprised with the kind of potential that footballers here possess.
The revised format of the ‘Airtel Rising Stars’ program will ensure that every player gets an equal opportunity to showcase his skills and playing acumen through a series of selection criteria, overseen by renowned and officially certified coaches in each centre.
The 64 top soccer playing schools will play amongst themselves, with the winning school in each city presented with the Airtel Cup. The best three players from each city will be picked for the final selection trials. The best goalkeeper from each city will also be picked and put through their paces, following which two will be shortlisted for the final selection trials, which will be held in Goa.
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