The five selected players from Nagaland during the Bundesliga Under-13 trails in Mumbai.

Morung Express News Dimapur | April 18

In a major boost towards developing youth football in Nagaland, five young players from the State have been selected to undergo a week long training camp at Germany's top Football Clubs (FC) Augsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt during the month of May.

The players indentified were Nitoka Tamang, Lalminkai Thompson, Sehboigin Haokip, Kaiminlen Haokip and Asa Ayemi. They had been selected during the Under-13 trails in Mumbai organised by Big Hit and Bundesliga International as part of the Bundesliga Dream initiative to identify and scout young talents in India.

According to Big Hit, a total of 200 players from across 100 cities and 11 states came for the trials held from April 13-14, out of which 12 were from Nagaland. The event had in attendance Bundesliga legend Claudio Pizarro, and famous scouts including Armin Kraaz, Head of Sports Projects, Americas, from Eintracht Frankfurt, and Jonathan Dietrich, Co-Trainer U14 from FC Augsburg. Along with them, several scouting officials from Indian Super League and I-League clubs also came to witness the trails.

The five selected players of the state will be part of 30 odd players who will take part in a week long training camp at the two mentioned Bundesliga clubs.

This will include attending football coaching, classroom theory, and also witnessing live matches, all paid expenses from the host clubs.

Yongsen Jamir, Managing Director of Dimapur Sporting Club (DSC) which had earlier hosted the first U-13 trials in the State level, stated that the five players will head to Germany in two different dates. The first two, Nitoka Tamang and Lalminkai Thompson will fly to FC Augsburg to attend the football camp from May 8 to 13. It will be followed by Sehboigin Haokip, Kaiminlen Haokip and Asa Ayemi who will head to Eintracht Frankfurt for their training from May 16-23.

Based on their performance during the training camp, the five young players have the opportunity to be recruited by the clubs as well, he revealed.