The Airtel Rising Stars — a city-based Under-16 football talent hunt — will kick off in the capital on Saturday, with more than 3,000 footballers registering for the four-day auditions to be held at the Dr Ambedkar Stadium and Delhi Public School, RK Puram.
An initiative in association with English Premier League giants Manchester United, the programme will cover 16 cities across India and pick 12 talented footballers, who will get a chance to attend a week-long training camp with the Red Devils at Old Trafford in Manchester.
So far, over 2,500 players have registered online for the selection trials through www.facebook.come/airtelsoccer, while 40 schools are expected to send in their teams of 12 players each through the district football associations.
The players will be put through their paces under the guidance of five coach-cum-selectors, who will then pick 120 of the most talented footballers to advance to the next phase.
These players will be selected according to the criteria based on aspects mentioned in the Manchester United Scouting Guidelines. These will dwell on the technical and tactical skills, physical and mental strengths, social skills, besides focusing on attitude, behaviour, communication, discipline, enthusiasm and fairplay.
The talent hunt will be conducted in 16 cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Goa, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Calicut, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kochi, Shillong, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Pune, Lucknow and Jaipur, with the support of the respective state and district football associations.
The shortlisted 120 players will then undergo second phase of selection. The best three players will be picked from the 120, who will then join their counterparts from the other 15 centres to participate in the six-day final selection trials, scheduled for September.