Mumbai, Dec 17 (IANS): Reliance Foundation, the CSR arm of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), announced on Saturday that it will be in a partnership with Yakult Danone India Pvt. Ltd., a global leader in Probiotics and its related clinical research organisations for the Reliance Foundation Young Champs (RFYC).

The association will provide the RFYC scholars access to international youth football tournaments across Asia. The Yakult team will also work with the coaching and the performance teams at the institute to share knowledge about Probiotics and nutrition, thereby contributing to the holistic development of scholars.

Further, RFYC scholars will get the opportunity to compete in different age-group tournaments in Asia, to jointly share experience, training and knowledge with club footballers in their age group. This tie-up will help strengthen knowledge sharing on sports between Japan and India, which will aid in the development of young players.

The RFYC team has in the past, played against teams from the Premier League in India and England. In October 2022, the RFYC U14 teams participated in the Malaysia Supermokh Cup 2022 which was played against European, ASEAN and Japanese youth teams. The U17 RFYC team is scheduled to travel to Japan to participate in one of the top level U17 tournaments in Japan named the Sanix International Cup in 2023.

"We are delighted to partner with Reliance Foundation to help nurture young talent in India. We are now interested in improving the health of the youth of India, through our association with Reliance Foundation, which is in line with our corporate philosophy of contributing to the health and happiness of people around the world."

"Through such CSR activities, we have developed an entrenched working relationship, with various stakeholders in the football ecosystem, in Japan and Malaysia, and now seek to leverage the same for the benefit of young talented players of the Reliance Foundation Young Champs program, in India."

"We will provide our signature Yakult product and share its scientifically proven health benefits, which is most relevant for athletes with players and staff of Reliance Foundation Young Champs program, to help them maintain their immunity, improve overall health and reduce the risk of infections," said Hiroshi Hamada, Managing Director, Yakult Danone India Pvt. Ltd.

Earlier this year, Mizoram Football Association and RFYC have joined hands to expand, transform and create a complete hyper-local pathway and decentralized approach to grassroot football through Reliance Foundation Young Champs (RFYC) Naupang (Children) League in the state.

The RFYC Academy in Mumbai, is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and dedicated multi-disciplinary full time staff. RFYC currently hosts children from around the country, playing across five age groups (U14, U15, U16, U17, and U19). Each year RFYC offers a full scholarship to young talent from across the country after a comprehensive year-long scouting process.