Hyderabad FC conclude first phase of youth trials in city

Hyderabad: Scheduled over four days, Hyderabad FC completed the local Youth Open Trials in the city on Sunday. Hyderabad FC, who are the first top-flight club from the region, attracted a lot of attention from several aspirants for their trials which began on the 8th of April at the MB Sportz Arena in Bandlaguda Jagir.
Spread over three age categories – U13s, U15s and U18s, Hyderabad FC began search of potential players for their youth teams. The first three days saw a strong response from each age category, while the shortlisted players attended the finals of the Youth Trials on Sunday.
First Team Assistant Coach and Technical Director of Youth, Thangboi Singto and Reserve and U18s Head Coach Shameel Chembakath were impressed with the talent and potential on show on all the days.
“The trials in Hyderabad went ahead better than planned. The plan was to give players more time on the pitch while we assess their technical and tactical ability,” said Shameel. “We started off with small-sided games, to give us time to look at every player individually, before we got them to play 11 v 11 on the final day.”
“We did not expect to see as many trialists. We want to focus on the pathway for the footballers from Hyderabad. Building grassroot infrastructure for them to move to elite groups and then to the reserve team. But these few days were a great experience, and I'm sure that in the coming years, HFC will make a real impact on the football culture in Hyderabad,” he added.
Hyderabad FC move on to the next leg of the National Youth Trials as they travel to Aizawl and Imphal in search of potential in the coming days.
“In the next phase of the trials, we will be focusing on the reserve team and the U18s in these trials. We want to make the transition from the reserve team to the first-team easier at HFC as we saw in the recent ISL season. So, we are focusing on the best talents in most states,” said coach Shameel.
“We are happy with the success of the local trials and with the help of Coach Thangboi, we hope the National trials will see a similar success as well,” he added.