How do you find the best footballing talent in a country of 1.4 billion people? During the last two years, the All India Football Federation has taken up that challenge by assessing more than 12,000 players around the country. Originally designed to identify the most promising players born in 2011 and 2012 and develop them in AIFF-FIFA talent academies, this detective work has taken on a new dimension with the announcement of the FIFA U-15 World Cup & Festival™.

Behind those numbers lies a broader ambition: to shape the future of Indian football. While 14 players have been selected to represent their country in Azerbaijan, which is hosting the tournament, many others have been observed as part of this initiative, which aims to identify and support promising talents in the long term.

Leading the project is Bibiano Fernandes, 49, a former India international (1 cap) who has moved into coaching and now heads the country’s U-15 side. In a nation as vast and populous as India, it would be impossible for him to watch every player himself.  The AIFF therefore relies on a network of 60 talent scouts spread across the country’s various states and regions, who monitor more than 20 football competitions and leagues.

“These scouts cover youth and school competitions, as well as private tournaments involving academies. They identify talented players, particularly in the U-14 and U-15 age groups, and add them to our database. When they spot someone with real promise, they keep tracking their progress,” Fernandes told Inside FIFA.

Those players are then assessed and whittled down to a smaller group, who are invited to camps and trials. Players from Indian Super League club academies also take part, allowing talent developed in different environments to be evaluated side by side.

This long-term work has also assisted in preparing the list of 14 players who were called up to represent India in the FIFA U-15 World Cup & Festival.  But technical ability was not the only factor. “Discipline was one of the most important criteria. We were looking for players who would give their all on the pitch. We also assessed their footballing qualities, including their technique, communication and understanding of the game,” said Fernandes.

For the 14 players selected, the competition offers a rare opportunity to test themselves against their peers from around the world. It will also allow the coaching staff to see how this generation measures up against its counterparts from other nations and identify areas for improvement.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity for these players. They are among India’s brightest young prospects, and facing international teams will help them understand what it takes to compete at the highest level. They will also be able to gauge their own abilities and return home determined to work even harder and improve,” said the head coach. “But the experience will be just as valuable for me and the rest of the coaching staff.”

Identifying these young talents and supporting their long-term development are central to The FIFA Talent Development Scheme (TDS), which helps Member Associations establish robust scouting and player-development pathways. India has benefited from the scheme since its launch in the country in November 2023, which was marked by a visit from FIFA Chief of Global Football Development Arsène Wenger.

Today, two FIFA Talent Academies are helping to develop Indian football: one in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, established in 2023, and another in Hyderabad, Telangana, inaugurated in June 2026. As part of this long-term development strategy, these two centres have, in particular, hosted centralised trials supervised by FIFA talent coaches.  In total, 365 youngsters from different states, leagues and development set-ups were assessed, with 160 attending trials in Bhubaneswar and 205 in Hyderabad.

“Our clubs already have talented players, and these academies give them even more opportunities to develop. I’m convinced that the TDS project will help Indian football continue to grow and reach the next level in the years ahead,” added Fernandes.

The path to the highest level is long and demanding. The FIFA U-15 World Cup & Festival 2026™ marks an important step on that journey, exposing India’s youngsters to a range of footballing cultures. For the coaching staff, the experience should also help shape the country’s player-development work in the years ahead.

In the longer term, the aim is to strengthen the U-17 and U-20 national teams and help them qualify for the FIFA U-17 World Cup™ and FIFA U-20 World Cup™ respectively.

“We’ll return home with a better understanding of where we stand as players, as coaches and as a country. It will then be up to us to keep working hard and developing our football,” explained Fernandes. “We’ve measured ourselves against the rest of Asia, and our first objective is to help India become the best team on the continent. But facing teams from other continents will give us an even clearer idea of how we compare.”

Narrowing more than 12,000 players down to the 14 who will represent India in Azerbaijan has been a huge undertaking. The challenge now is to sustain that momentum, so that more young players can develop and, in time, help drive India’s national teams forward.