Shillong, Mar 14: Indian Super League club NorthEast United FC has reached an agreement with the Meghalaya government to set up a “state of the art” residential football academy at Mawkhanu in the New Shillong Township, it was announced today.
Club owner John Abraham was in the state capital today and attended a programme with Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma.
A press release from the Sports & Youth Affairs Department informed that an “in-principle agreement” has been made between the club and the department to develop football in the state.
Government land in Mawkhanu will be “allocated in part to NEUFC, who shall construct a state of the art residential football academy at the location for the training of NEUFC teams and local aspiring football stars.”
The deal is not final, however, as further diligence as per government norms are still in process, the release added.
Abraham has been to Shillong many times before and there has been mention of the club and government working on an academy together for at least the last six years.
The Highlanders had also previously had tie-ups with two local clubs in the past. Abraham and the owners of Shillong Lajong FC jointly made the initial foray into the ISL in 2014 but the latter pulled out around a year later. NEUFC then did a deal in 2017 with Shillong United FC for youth football development but the local club folded the following year.
Third time’s the charm, they say, and NorthEast United, whose main sponsor has been Meghalaya Tourism for the past two seasons, will hope that working with the state government is the way to go.
(Photo contributed)