Football
17-year-old West Bengal footballer gets selected for Bayern Munich World squad
Young Subho Paul from Salkia in Howrah is one of just 15 young players from all over the world who have been selected for the Bayern Munich World squad.
Sudeva FC striker Subho Paul (Source: Twitter)
For any budding footballer in India, getting an opportunity to train and play at a club in Europe is probably the biggest dream. But when the club in question is a behemoth like FC Bayern Munich, the dream only gets more distant. That isn't, however, the case with young Subho Paul.
17-year-old Subho has been selected for the German giant's World Squad, which includes 15 U19 prospects from 15 different countries. What makes his achievement all the more creditable is the fact that as many as 654 players from 64 nations applied for a spot on the roster. In the next few months, Subho and 14 others like him will be digitally trained by professional FC Bayern coaches with a view towards making them more attuned to the European way of training. All of that will eventually culminate in a match between the World squad and the FC Bayern U19s sometime later this year in Munich.
The digital training will be led by Bayern youth coach Christopher Loch and former club captain and World Cup winner Klaus Augenthaler, who were also involved in the scouting and selection process. The initiative, which aims to provide a platform to talented players from all over the world and at the same time facilitate cultural exchange between them, is a joint effort by Bayern Munich and Volkswagen.
Subho, who hails from Howrah in West Bengal, has been prolific over the past couple of seasons for Sudeva FC. In the 2019-20 campaign, he found the net 14 times in 11 matches in the AIFF Youth League. Promotion to the senior team followed soon, and Subho would go on to score two important goals for Sudeva in their debut I-League campaign against TRAU FC and Indian Arrows. Based on his impressive displays, he was made the captain of the side too. The youngster, who already is a vital cog in India's U17 national team, also represented the country in the 2021 AFC U16 Asian Cup qualifiers, where he scored thrice in as many games.
More power to him as he tries to make a mark on the world stage....
