Aston Villa opens football academy in New Delhi
“Aston Villa Football Club, one of the most successful football clubs in the history of English Football, plans to expand globally and India is one of the countries where Aston Villa not only want to have an Indian Super League club but also open Football Academies all over India!”, says Tony Xia, Chairman, Aston Villa Football Club while addressing the media in New Delhi announcing the launch of its Academy in India.
“Aston Villa has one of the best football academies in the world and has fans all over the world and some of our famous fans include David Cameron, Prince William, Tom Hanks and using our network we also want to help promote U17 FIFA World Cup being held in India next year and make it a big sports celebration in India!”, he further added.
Aston Villa FC’s Chairman, Tony Xia and group members of Aston Villa club, have been holding meetings with several members of the Indian Government including the Minister of Sport (Mr. Vijay Goel) and the Minister of Education (Mr. Prakesh Javedekar) to discuss providing the training for football coaches for Indian state schools to be based at a new Aston Villa academy and training facility to be opened in New Delhi. The objective is for India to have a national football team challenging on the international stage within a generation and for India to host the World Cup.
The New Delhi Aston Villa academy will also coach and train youngsters from the age of 5 as Aston Villa does in England. Also, Aston Villa FC believes in equal opportunity in sports for every kid and therefore we plan to send coaches and provide coaching programme for poor kids and girls!
Aston Villa co-founded the Football League and the English Premier League and has spent the second longest period (105 years) in England’s top tier of football. It has won the top league seven times and has also beaten Bayern Munich to win the European Cup, now called the Champions League.
It is also the leading club in the Midlands playing at its iconic Villa Park Stadium in Birmingham, England’s 2nd largest city, which has a large Indian population. Aston Villa’s football academy and training ground is regarded as one of the very best in football and is located outside Birmingham at Bodymoor Heath.
The Sports & Leisure Division of Recon Group, one of the leading Smart City Builders of the World has purchased Aston Villa Football Club in June 2016 and Dr. Tony Xia became the youngest owner of a top English football club.