The All India Football Federation (AIFF) and the Football Association of Odisha (FAO) will inaugurate India’s very first Refereeing Academy at Cuttack on Saturday.

The “AIFF-FAO Refereeing Academy” will be inaugurated during a function at the O.C.A Conference Hall, Barabati Stadium at 11.00 IST.

Asirbad Behera (Honorary Secretary, O.O.A & O.C.A) will be in charge of the function, which will also see various members of the Indian football fraternity taking part in the event.

The new academy is part of the AIFF’s Master Plan to increase the level of the beautiful game in India.The AIFF will train referees at the academy to control and officiate higher level matches and adopt refereeing as a career.

A total of 20 referees have been selected for the one year long academy project in Cuttack. They will be teached refereeing through classroom lecturers with a focus on the laws of game, individual/group exercises, psychology and on-field training.

The AIFF is planning to set-up twelve such academies all around India in the next three years.