The Armed Police Force, which runs premier division football club APF Club, has signed an agreement with the All Nepal Football Association to operate a football academy for youth players.

As per the agreement signed on Tuesday, the APF will start the academy at its facilities from mid April (new Nepali year) in collaboration with ANFA, the country’s football governing body. ANFA President Karma Tsering Sherpa and APF Additional Inspector General Pushpa Ram KC signed the deal on behalf of their institutions.

According to the agreement, ANFA will provide technical as well as financial support to run the academy. The deal will be valid for two batches of players— at least for six years as Under-14 age group male players will be selected for academy until the high school level.

Sherpa said running the academy will fulfil one of the five major criteria to obtain Asian Football Confederation (AFC) club licence.

“It is a new beginning and a historic moment for Nepali football as an ‘A’ division club has agreed to set up its own youth academy,” he said. “ANFA will help APF in the technical and philosophical aspects of the academy. It will also help the club develop the curriculum for its youth academy.”

Academies run by the football governing body in the past only served as a systematic setup to train the grassroots and youth footballers.

APF Additional Inspector General KC said that the major motive of setting up the academy was to contribute to ANFA’s initiative for youth development programme and to produce national and international footballers.

The APF Club have been struggling at the Martyrs Memorial ‘A’ Division League in recent years despite being more resourceful than most other clubs.

KC hopes the youth academy would help the club overcome its shortcomings in the future.

As per the agreement, 21 players of Under-14 age category will be selected for the academy. Seven academy players will be selected from APF schools and the remaining 14 will be selected through a nationwide scouting process. ANFA and APF have also agreed to provide scholarships for seven players selected through the scouting programme. The other seven players will have to pay for their school tuition.

APF Inspector General of Police Shailendra Khanal said that the idea behind the youth academy was to take the education and sports together.

“There is a misconception that a student who excels in sports is not good academically. We want to change that. Our priority is to develop well-rounded individuals, who are good both academically and athletically,” he said.