Lot of young kids want to become professional footballers after Reliance Foundation Development League has come to Mizoram: Jeje Lalpekhlua

The ‘Mizo Sniper’, as he is fondly called, has played for many clubs in India like Pune FC, Mohun Bagan, East Bengal, Chennaiyin FC, Dempo FC and Pailan Arrows during his celebrated career, feels the advent of the Reliance Foundation Development League (RFDL) has given hopes to many young players to become professional footballers.

Mizoram has been a hotbed of Indian football and its ecosystem has recently been boosted with many grassroots and developmental leagues including the RFYC and MFA jointly organised Naupang League.

"In the last five to six years, I have seen football has developed across the country, especially for the youngsters. And, recently, I have noticed a lot of young kids coming up, and wanting to become professional footballers, especially after RFDL has come to Mizoram.”

The ex-India footballer recalled his struggles in the early phase of career and emphasised on the importance of having more game time and good preparation for a more holistic growth of players.

"I think the boys need to have more game time and good preparation. Reliance Foundation and Mizoram Football Association have been really nice in setting up everything so well. At this age, I didn't have these types of games, training, facilities and everything. I want to see a lot of young boys from RFDL, represent our country in future,"he said.

"At this U-21 age many boys don't get the game time. When I was 21, I struggled for these kinds of facilities in many clubs. In our country, you don't have the young kids getting much time but now they have a good setup. I think with this league, a lot of boys are improving. I feel this is one of the most important age categories for the players to become professional footballers," he added.

"From my experience, I would like to say that I had to struggle but these boys are lucky to get this opportunity to play in the league at the best grounds of Mizoram. So they need to keep using this experience for their growth and represent the country in future," Jeje said.

Talking about the RFDL tournament and its inclusiveness for opportunities across regions, Jeje mentioned that boys from villages are getting a lot of exposure to express themselves.

"So, we are so lucky to have RFDL in our country. In Mizoram, most of the boys who are playing in this league come from villages. Like I said, they didn't have any kind of opportunity to express themselves. I think this is the best chance for them to express themselves. The two top teams from this league will represent our state Mizoram and if they keep doing well, then they're going to play against one of the best players in the world in the Next Gen Cup," he said.

"Now that we have RFDL in Mizoram, I hope a lot of more players come up and get good opportunities to get selected to a lot of bigger clubs in the ISL and I-League. So I would like to congratulate and thank the organisers of RDFL," he concluded.

About Reliance Foundation Development League:

RFDL is part of Reliance Foundation’s continued commitment towards supporting young athletes in India to evolve their skills by providing them more opportunities, world-class infrastructure, sports science expertise and coaching, contributing to the growth of Indian sports.

https://www.rfyouthsports.com/football/rfdl

Now in its second season, Reliance Foundation Development League (RFDL) is designed to be a platform for the top U-21 football players to showcase their talent in a highly competitive environment. The tournament is India’s largest and most inclusive U-21 youth tournament comprising of over 50 teams across 9 regions in India from Hero Indian Super League, I-League division I&II and Independent Academies / Clubs nominated by the State Football Associations.

The top four teams from RFDL will qualify to take on selected Premier League Clubs and South Africa’s PSL youth teams in the annual Premier League Next Generation, in joint collaboration with Reliance Foundation, to be played later this year. The exposure and competitiveness of the Next Generation Cup is aimed at developing the elite youth football talent in India.

Some glimpses from the ongoing league:

https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/reliancefoundationdevelopmentleague 
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/YlUvq-Qn29o 
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/HlzwCtQZ9zc 
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/48YJh7fYt_E 
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/oFJYFqmnGAY 

For more information on RFDL, please visit us here: https://www.rfyouthsports.com/ 

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