Rourkela, Feb 7: Odisha FC is organising a scouting program for children in three age groups at Delhi Public School in Rourkela. The three-day program, which started on Friday, is the first phase scouting and children can participate in three age groups – under 18, under 15 and under 13. The scouting for under 18 players happened on the first day and for under 15 and under 13 boys, the program will be held on Saturday and Sunday respectively.

The players from this scouting program will be selected for further trials and will be in contention to find a place in the junior Odisha FC teams in the above categories for the upcoming season. The under 13, under 15 and under 18 teams participate in the Hero Sub-Junior League, Hero Junior League and Hero Elite League respectively.

On behalf of Odisha FC, Grassroots Coaches Sk Shahanawaz Alam and Aiswaryan Pillai and Grassroots Manager Sayantan Ganguly are in-charge of this scouting program and Rourkela Sports Association is the Local Scouting Partner.

OFC’s Head of Football Development Aakash Narula said, “As a Club, we strongly believe in building a robust grassroots and youth setup. The only way to ensure that is to work with local players of our catchment area amongst others and give them professional training, competitive matches and help them grow as players and represent the nation and the ISL senior team. For which such scouting programs become an important step towards helping the young players.”