The Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Goalplay, Moritz Mattes, on Tuesday met Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and expressed the academy's desire to set up a centre of excellence in the state. Founded by German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, Golaplay is a training academy for optimising goalkeepers' performance.
Kahn is known for his performance in the 2002 World Cup, in which Germany lost to Brazil in the final with the goalkeeper winning the Golden Ball award for his brilliant performance.
Moritz said that as part of its expansion plans, Goalplay will set four centres of excellence in the country, one each in east, west, north and south India.
"Guwahati will be the venue for our centre of excellence in the eastern region," Moritz told the Chief Minister during the meeting and informed that with the help of the sports department, Goalplay will pick two potential young goalkeepers from the state to be sent to its centre in Munich for advanced training.
Sonowal, while hailing the initiative of Goalplay, thanked Kahn for choosing Guwahati as one of the venues and assured that the government will help in all possible manner to enable Goalplay to materialise its plan.
Sonowal also agreed in principle that two talented goalkeepers from the state will be picked and sent to Munich for advanced training. He asked Moritz to train the potential coaches from the state to help them learn all modern traits of coaching so that they can prepare players from Assam for the international level.
Sonowal also requested Moritz to convey the state government's invitation to Kahn to come to Assam and encourage the football playing talents in the state.
During the discussions, the Chief Minister also informed Moritz about the state government's plans to give unprecedented importance to promotion of sports and its infrastructure in Assam.
Moritz said that Goalplay is likely to select the potential goalkeepers for training in Munich in September.
( With inputs from IANS )