Former I-League champions Salgaocar FC and Scottish giants Glasgow’s Celtic FC have announced a new club partnership under which Salgaocar become part of the Celtic Club Partnership Programme.
The new partnership saw Celtic coaching staff travel to Goa last week to work with the I-League club’s first-team, Academy players and reach out into the local community in Goa.
The new partnership in India isn’t the first for Celtic as way back in 1936 through the signing of Mohammed Salim from Mohammedan Sporting Club, who became the first player from the Indian sub-continent to play for a European club.
In recent years Celtic has had success in India through a three-year partnership with the Mahindra Group with over 3,000 young footballers being trained by Celtic coaches across India in a joint programme.
Shivanand V. Salgaocar, Salgaocar FC president, said, “We at Salgaocar FC are delighted to be closely associated with Celtic FC. At the heart of this relationship is a shared philosophy that is devoted to the promotion and development of young, local talent. This is the beginning of what we hope to be a longstanding and highly fruitful association.”
Meanwhile Celtic Chief Executive Peter Lawwell said, “The Celtic International Club Partnership Programme is a very exciting programme for the Club and we are delighted to welcome Salgaocar FC to be part of it and to the Celtic family.”
“Celtic’s connection with India has been longstanding, however this is the first time we have developed a relationship with another professional club in this region. We are excited to see what can be developed from this unique relationship,” Lawwell added.
The Celtic Club Partnership programme has over 50 clubs in 15 countries all sharing in the Club’s expertise in developing top class footballers. Club partners enjoy exclusive monthly coaching content, coaching camps at their own club, training tours to Celtic, access to the International Coaches’ Convention and a host of other benefits aimed at sharing our expertise to help develop their club.
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