With 1,000 playgrounds & 18 stadiums, CM Yogi positions UP as football hub

The Uttar Pradesh government is planning to develop 1,000 playgrounds and 18 stadiums to position the state as a major football hub.

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath has identified sports as a form of soft power to galvanise the state into a $1-trillion economy.

“Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, sports in India have witnessed remarkable growth over the past decade. The Khelo India initiative has been a key driver. 1,000 football-specific playgrounds are being established in the state,” he said.

On September 2, the K D Singh Babu Stadium in Lucknow hosted an exhibition match between Mohun Bagan and East Bengal, a first in the state capital.

The chief minister, who was the chief guest, said the state has aligned itself with the PM’s sports mission, and is constructing playgrounds in 57,000 village panchayats across 75 districts in the state.

The AIFF was reportedly sceptical over Lucknow being the venue for the derby match owing to the absence of a dedicated football stadium.

However, when AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey met Yogi, the CM assured him of providing the required infrastructure for the match.

The UP government renovated the K D Singh Babu Stadium in three weeks, thus opening the floodgates for more matches in Lucknow, going forward.

The state is also developing mini-stadiums in nearly 825 development blocks as well as full-scale stadiums in 75 districts.

To promote sports, more than 500 athletes who won medals in the Olympics, Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and World Championships have so far been recruited in government jobs.

Apart from football, the state government is also promoting aspirational sports like car racing and bike racing.

Recently, UP offered land to Italian superbike maker Ducati to develop a motorcycle race track.

Nodal agency Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) has offered a 200-acre free land parcel to Ducati under a public private partnership (PPP) model near the upcoming Jewar International Airport.

Earlier, YEIDA facilitated the development of Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida for F1 racing.

UP has said it will host the 2nd edition of MotoGP – the Grand Prix motorcycle racing championship – in Greater Noida.

In July, the Yogi Adityanath government inked a deal with Dorna Sports, the commercial rights holder for MotoGP, thus facilitating the return of the flagship motorsports event to the Buddh International Circuit in March 2025.