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Course for aspiring football referees and coaches

The English Football Association will conduct international refereeing and coaching courses from April 19, aimed at giving its participants a direct entry to England.

Pune: The English Football Association will conduct international refereeing and coaching courses
from April 19, aimed at giving its participants a direct entry to England. The two courses will be run by Pune-based Abhijit Kadam Football Development Centre (AKFDC) which was founded in a joint venture of Bharati Vidyapeeth, Cheshire-based International Football company Kick Worldwide and the Anfield Club, Liverpool. "Those completing the International Coaching Course at AKFDC will be allowed to move to England (only within FA jurisdiction) and considered as competent having the technical requirements of a Level 1 coach. They can use it to support any application to enroll on FA or `1st4Sport Level 2` CCF courses," director of the AKFDC, Kuldeep Gaikwad said. About the refereeing course, Gaikwas said "anyone completing the course in India will be recognised as a qualified referee in England and as such will be able to take up the whistle immediately." The course will have 24 students per batch and has been endorsed by the All India Football Federation (AIFF), he said. The faculty from English FA includes Michael Matthews, the UEFA `A` licence qualified coach and a lead tutor for the Football Association and Julie Chipchase, currently working for the Football Association as a regional coaching development manager. The other course will be conducted by Keith Buller a qualified referee and referee`s development officer for Somerset Football Association and Richard Melin, a qualified FA referee instructor," Gaikwad said. The fee for both the courses will be Rs 22,000 each and will be open to students who have cleared HSC with 50 per cent marks in English. PTI