Hyderabad Baby League Season 2 to kick off in mid October

Hyderabad: Fateh Hyderabad AFC on Saturday announced the start of second season of the Hyderabad Baby League from mid October. The second season of a structured league system will allow the children of the city to participate free of cost.

The announcement was made at a function held at the residence of Andrew Fleming, the British Deputy Commissioner for Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and an avid football fan, and Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary, Ministry of IT, Telangana was the chief guest of the event.

The concept of a baby league, in Hyderabad, started from last year. Baby League primarily involves kids between 3-12 years of age.

The League offers multiple age groups starting from U-6, U-8, U-10 and U-12 which falls in the AIFF Baby League category and extends itself to the U-14, U-16, U-18 and Open Categories. The league is a community driven project built on the spirit of volunteerism and giving back to the game.

The key sponsors of the event are NMDC, Telangana Football Association, Golden Baby Leagues in partnership with Fateh Hyderabad AFC and Premier. The venue partner is Hyderabad Riding and Polo Club and the kit & equipment partner is Decathlon and KASGO.

Jayesh Ranjan expressed his delight that such a platform was being made available to the young budding footballers of the city. "We are all enthusiastic about football and this initiative is one of a kind opportunity for the future footballers.

For India to get in the World Cup one day, our kids need to get into an organised system where they are able to play regularly, every week.

More importantly this type of league brings families from across our city together to enjoy sport. I am happy that Fateh Hyderabad AFC has taken this initiative, and I would like to extend my support to their endeavour."

Andrew Fleming was equally approving of the initiative and said "I am a huge football fan and I am glad that the second chapter of the Baby League has come up.

Yogesh and his team are extremely passionate about football development and I am sure that this chapter will be equally successful as that of last year and will help children of this city to enjoy the thrill of match competition and bring communities together."

Yogesh Maurya, Technical and Sporting Director of Fateh Hyderabad AFC, shed more light on how the Hyderabad Baby League would function.

"The League will be held for the Under 6, Under 8, Under 10 and Under 12 age groups. The cost of the league shall be borne entirely by Fateh Hyderabad AFC.

"Kids from local teams and schools are more than welcome to come and participate. The matches will be held on Sunday and will be geared towards making the participants enjoy themselves. We will be scouting the league for talent that can go into Fateh Hyderabad' AFC's U-13, U15 and U-18 teams.

"This chapter of the initiative is more advanced in terms of venue and sponsors. Last year with over 600 children playing, we saw how powerful it is for families in the sporting community to come together and enjoy the game with their children.

The Telangana Football Association has iterated their support towards the initiative."