It has been a highly promising football season for the Anantapur Sports Academy (ASA), capped by the performance of the U15 and U18 teams. These teams have shown great promise, playing for a professional I-League team, Fateh Hyderabad AFC. They eventually brought back goodwill to the Rural Development Trust’s (RDT) investment, and have promoted its objective of inculcating a sporting and footballing culture among the youth in the Anantapur District.

Seeing the spark that these youngsters have rekindled in football in Anantapur, the ASA has decided to reach out to more children. This time however, they believe that they need to nurture younger talent to reach their objective. They are looking to broaden the ASA football programme by bringing children in the U11, U13 and U15 categories on board at the residential academy. For this they roped in professional assistance in the form of Spaniard Jofre Mateu Gonzalez, a highly popular household name, and one of the most successful foreign players in the Indian Super League. Jofre Mateu won the inaugural 2014 ISL season with Atletico de Kolkata and was a part of FC Goa, the runners-up in the 2015 season.

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