Daijiworld Media Network - London
London, Apr 29: The English Premier League today announced a significant expansion of its global footprint with the inauguration of a new office in Mumbai, India. This strategic move will build upon the League's established efforts to connect with its vast and passionate Indian fanbase and partners, further promoting football across the nation while bolstering the continued growth of the League and its member clubs.
The Premier League boasts a long and rich history of engagement with India's millions of dedicated football enthusiasts and local football communities. At the grassroots level, their flagship Premier Skills program, in partnership with the British Council, has been instrumental in developing the community football workforce since its inception in 2007. Over the past 18 years, this impactful initiative has reached more than 18 Indian states, empowering over 7,300 coaches, referees, and educators, ultimately benefiting an impressive 124,000 young individuals.
At the elite level, the Premier League has fostered a strong collaborative relationship with the Indian Super League (ISL) since 2014. This partnership has facilitated the sharing of invaluable knowledge and expertise across all facets of the elite game, encompassing governance, youth development, and the training of coaches and referees.
The newly established Premier League India office in Mumbai will serve to solidify the League's unwavering commitment to supporting the advancement of football across India at both the elite and grassroots levels. This will be achieved through enhanced collaboration with Indian football authorities and governing bodies. The office will also prioritize the creation of more direct engagement opportunities for fans in the region through a variety of events and partnership activities, working in close coordination with the League's long-standing broadcast partner, JioStar.
Premier League Chief Executive Richard Masters expressed his enthusiasm, stating: "We and our clubs have a fantastic and knowledgeable fanbase in India, and we know football continues to grow in popularity. We are proud of our longstanding commitment to India, having worked to deliver community football programmes for 18 years and, more recently, our partnership with the Indian Super League."
"Opening this office marks a significant milestone for the Premier League. It will allow us to operate more effectively locally as we build on our existing work to establish more ways to strengthen our relationship with fans, JioStar and other partners. We are looking forward to the opportunities it will create in the region," Masters added.
Demonstrating its commitment to nurturing young talent, the Premier League launched the Next Gen Cup in 2019 – an elite international youth tournament organized in collaboration with the ISL and Reliance Foundation. The sixth edition of this prestigious tournament is scheduled to take place in Mumbai in May 2025, featuring ISL youth teams competing against U19 teams from Premier League clubs.
This expansion into India follows the Premier League's previous establishment of international offices in Singapore in 2019 (primarily focused on combating content piracy and supporting broadcast partners), New York in July 2023 (aimed at further developing fan engagement opportunities in the United States in collaboration with NBC Sports), and Beijing in October 2024 (to build upon existing work in engaging fans and partners and supporting the local development of the game).