LFC Foundation’s Contini visits Gachibowli stadium, discusses collaboration in football

Colin Contini, Liverpool Football Club Foundation’s head of operations, visited the Gachibowli Sports Complex in Hyderabad on Monday.

As part of the visit, the Sports Authority of Telangana (SATG) hosted a round-table meeting, chaired by vice-chairman & Managing Director Dr Sonibala Devi, to identify areas in which SATG and the LFC Foundation can work together to expand community football and use sport as a tool for social development across Telangana.

The round table brought together a wide group of stakeholders, including owners and representatives of football clubs in the State, representatives of various foundations, corporate representatives interested in directing CSR funds towards sport, and senior officials of SATG.

Shabbir, Victor share their insights

Former India internationals Victor Amalraj and Shabbir Ali also took part and shared their insights on developing football at the grassroots.

During the meeting, Contini presented the work of the LFC Foundation. Established in 2002, the Foundation runs programmes across seven areas of impact: inclusion, sport and physical activity, health and wellbeing, education and life skills, employability and training, youth intervention, and community engagement. It delivers close to 200 sessions every week for young people and families and works with dozens of schools across the Liverpool City Region.

Its international work, delivered in partnership with Right To Play, reaches vulnerable children through programmes in countries such as Thailand, Senegal and Tanzania.

The discussions focused on how the Foundation’s experience could be adapted to Telangana, with participants exploring the following areas:

Expanding community and grassroots football programmes for children and youth, including in underserved areas.

Increasing the participation of girls and women in football.

Using football as a platform for health, education, life skills and inclusion.

Coach education and capacity building, drawing on the Foundation’s methods.

Channelling CSR investment into structured, measurable sports-for-development programmes.

Establishing partnerships between SATG, local football clubs, foundations and corporates to make these programmes sustainable.

Contini appreciates SATG’s efforts

Colin Contini appreciated SATG’s efforts to develop football and strengthen grassroots participation in Telangana. He expressed interest in exploring collaboration with SATG in community football, inclusion and sports-for-development programmes, drawing on the LFC Foundation’s experience.

“Telangana has strong football traditions and a great deal of young talent. The LFC Foundation’s experience in using football to change lives in communities is something we can learn from. Today’s round table is a first step towards a partnership that brings together government, clubs, CSR partners and former players to take community football to every corner of the state,” said Sonibala Devi.

The meeting concluded with participants agreeing to identify specific areas of collaboration and work towards a framework for future engagement between SATG and the LFC Foundation.

G Palguna, secretary of Telangana Football Association, Ravinder, Dr Ravi Teja, Srinivas Ashok, deputy directors of SATG, PRO Suresh Kaleru and Kannam Madhu attended the meeting.