Western India Football Association (WIFA) has tied up with a football communication portal to monitor activities of its affiliated clubs/districts, players and coaches in Maharashtra.
Through this unique initiative between WIFA and www.Thefootballmind.Com, all clubs, academies and institutions in the state can have their own webpage, build their online presence and communicate with the fans free of cost, it was announced at a media conference here today.
The portal has been started by two young engineers hailing from Pune, K Pranesh and Rohit Narayan, and supported by Rahul Rane, a serial entrepreneur who is their technology partner.
Hailing the initiative, which allows footballers to upload their photos, other details and videos, former India striker Abhishek Yadav rued that it was not present when he was just growing up as a footballer.
"This initiative will make it easy for the players to display their skills and get visibility and fans," he said.
The beta version of the website has already attracted around a lakh visitors from within and outside the country and the promoters are looking in the region of a few million regular visitors over time, said Pranesh, CEO of the website.
WIFA CEO Henry Menezes also praised the initiative and said in a statement, "Although football in Maharashtra is huge, the stakeholders currently have no means of displaying their achievements. The Football Mind is a first of its kind football-specific networking platform in India that will give all entities a means to express themselves online and reach out to a wider audience.
