FC Madras unveils new FIFA-compliant football facility at Mahabalipuram

Freshworks promoter Girish Mathrubootham is also the founder of the facility

FC Madras, a new age football academy with a mission to create champions for life, on Sunday unveiled a world-class football facility at Mahabalipuram, near Chennai. The new ‘Home of FC Madras’ has been built to FIFA standards, specified by the AIFF (All India Football Federation) and AFC (Asian football Confederation).

Girish Mathrubootham,the founder of SaaS major Freshworks, is also the founder of FC Madras. The 23 acre integrated campus houses state-of-the-art floodlit football pitches including East Asia’s first Hybrid Pitch, a functional strength and conditioning centre, medical and recovery facilities, an indoor international-standard futsal pitch, a six-lane swimming pool, a residential hostel with a modern kitchen and dining facilities and an alternate learning centre following the NIOS (National Institute of Open Schooling) curriculum.

The academy has made a long-term commitment to developing talent and aims to provide a unique blend of world-class football infrastructure, a methodology covering football, education and life skills. The residential facility can accommodate up to 130 athletes and meet their training, housing and learning needs.

“The dream is to find the next Messi from Madras,” said Mathrubootham. “Our country has amazing young sporting talent that deserve success, but need the infrastructure, environment and opportunity to unlock their true potential. It is encouraging to see the government and private companies take a bigger interest in sports and its infrastructure, and with the new FC Madras campus, I believe we have taken another step forward to inspire other leaders and businesses to create similar academies because our future champions need it.”

FC Madras offers a scholarship program for talented young footballers selected through a rigorous nation-wide scouting program. The aim of the academy is to be one of the best finishing schools for football in India which will produce players who will represent India internationally and make the nation proud.

“FC Madras will be India’s first ‘smart football academy’ blending the must-haves of global football academy practices and technological advancements in sports technology: data analytics, video analysis, sports science and optimal performance based sports nutrition for our athletes,” said Dhananjai CKM, the Director of Sports and Governance at FC Madras.

“Sport as a career was previously considered taboo in India. The time has come for India to build a sporting infrastructure that can act as a finishing school for sports, just like the IITs, IIMs and other premier educational institutions are producing the business and tech leaders of our country. There are very few residential youth academies in the country which combine football, academics, character development and social responsibility. Investments in tech-enabled sports academies like FC Madras will produce next-generation smart athletes for India,” added Dhananjai, who has been instrumental in the planning and development of the new facility.