Mahindra return to football with Celtic

First Arsenal, then Chelsea and now Celtic, India is certainly attracting many big European clubs. The latest venture — between Mahindra & Mahindra and Scotland’s Celtic football club — like many others, promises to develop the grassroots, specifically at the school level.

The initiative, Mahindra Youth Football Challenge (MYFC), is an under-14 school football tournament that will be played in six cities — Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Goa, Bangalore and Kerala — to identify talented players in the country. Celtic will train and groom the identified players through this initiative.

Mahindra Group vice chairman and managing director Anand Mahindra, while referring to the group’s decision to disband its successful professional football team Mahindra United earlier this year, said with this initiative the group had kept its promise to promote the game at the grassroots.

“It was hard to convince people. I’m happy to have fulfilled that promise,” he said.

Celtic Football Club’s chief executive Peter Lawell said, “Celtic has in its DNA to give it back to the community. We have had similar programmes in Australia and the US. Now it’s time to give it back to India.”