Premier League banking on India’s football passion with revamped grassroots programme: 'Very passionate'

Indian football might not be in its best position now, but the passion of fans has not dipped. There is still a large number of football fans in the country who vigorously follow the game and hope for a better future. And this passion is what has attracted the Premier League, the biggest football league in the world, to revamp its current programme in the country with hopes of bolstering the development of grassroots football.

The Premier League has termed India a "strategically important market" and invested in the grassroots through a programme called Premier Skills. Now, the league has launched a Next Gen Coach programme to support coaches in their local communities so that better training can be imparted to the young kids who take up the sport.

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Graham Robinson, who has 30 years of experience in football and sport development and a UEFA B licence holder, spoke to Firstpost about the programme, what makes India a good destination for this and the challenges that they might encounter.

Premier League revamps India programme

The Next Gen Coach programme, as the name suggests, is aimed at developing coaches. Through this, the Premier League is trying to give the best knowledge to local coaches with the hope that they would further help their kids and thus uplift the overall football environment in their own regions.

Stills from the 2026 PL Next Gen Coach programme. X/PLforIndia

Talking about the programme, Graham says, "So next gen community coach is about developing grassroots coaches in their local environments. This week we have got 27 coaches from Oscar Foundation, very new to coaching, some of them very inexperienced. And our aim is to support them to deliver safe, inclusive and fun sessions that has the child at the heart of the process."

Graham explains this is not a new programme. He recalls that in India, the Premier League already had a programme called Premier Skills.

"Premier Skills was going since 2014. We've got coaches with us supporting us this week who have been through that programme and now support us in our coach delivery. So the programme is being rebranded, renamed and re-designed to work more around the grassroots space."

So, what is the difference now? "It's just we're trying to focus more on the football element and we're trying to focus more on bringing our different departments of the Premier League a little bit closer together. So the Premier Skills programme used to be a little bit of a standalone programme but we're trying to integrate it a lot more so the bigger next-gen programme is not just about community coaching," the award-winning coach educator says.

"It's more of a holistic approach than an ad hoc approach," he summarises.

Challenges in India

Graham has been working in football development for the past three decades. He has worked in more than 30 countries and helped develop over 5000 coaches in these places. However, India is a different challenge.

"Luckily with India, in some parts of India, we've got English as the main language. But when we do face language barriers, that's sometimes the biggest hindrance we have. Having to either have translators with us or having a little bit slower discussions, that can sometimes be a hindrance," Graham says, talking about the biggest challenge in working in India.

He also says that he and his team are trying to do things that are relevant to the Indian market rather than use a one-size-fits-all approach.

"So for us, it's a two-way conversation for everything we do. We can't just come in and tell them or show things that aren't relevant to their market. All of that stuff is important for us because if they've only got four or five footballs that they use in a session and we're showcasing with a ball each, it's irrelevant for when they go back to their community," Graham says.

"It'll be different in Mumbai. It'll be very different in Goa. It'll be very different in Chennai. So wherever we go, we have to make sure that we're leaving a legacy and a footprint in market so that the coaches that we develop can hopefully develop other coaches, but also to share great information with the young people that they're working with," he adds.

Indian coaches 'very passionate'

Graham also revealed that there is enough passion and enthusiasm among Indians regarding football and that is why the Premier League is focussing on the country. He believes this passion is key to the programme.

"We have found that we have got very passionate, very enthusiastic coaches. I think we've been very lucky this week. But as a country, you've got infrastructure that's working and you've also got coaches that are very passionate and enthusiastic that want to learn. That is the key thing for us.

"If we came into a market and there was an unwillingness to learn, it's pointless us coming into markets. So for us, it's the enthusiasm and passion that we see and the willingness to be open-minded that allows us to then sort of share a lot of different ideas," he adds.

'Hopefully can develop India players'

Graham and the Premier League team are currently in Goa for a four-day camp where they are working with 27 coaches. Graham hopes that these sessions will help inspire kids to fall in love with the sport.

"We've got 27 coaches, those coaches could potentially impact, each coach could potentially impact 200 children a week. So if we get these young coaches to be delivering sessions that the children love and they are actually inspiring the children, that will hopefully create that continued development of players," he says.

As for the future, Graham quips, "you never know."

"The longevity of the programme is that we're hoping that this programme can develop players for India in the long run," he says, adding, "But that's not our key goal. Our key goal at the moment is to look at community coaches working with the groups that they work with in their own environments."