'India has big scope'

Horst, who is in Bangalore to implement his training methods to players between the ages of six and 14 in the Bangalore Youth Football League, said there is incredible scope for football in the country but he added that the sport needed to dealt with in the right way.

“It’s not just about running for miles and miles,” said Horst. “I was in Mumbai for a ten-day camp, and it was absolute chaos. They keep playing eleven-on-eleven games. That’s just not going to work with kids. They are like animals running towards one ball. Kids should start to play three-on-three, then four-on-four and eventually seven-on-seven. They can start playing the full version once they reach 17.”

After handling some of the best youth programmes in Europe, Horst managed to sell his idea of youth training to coaches at FC Barcelona, and now has assignments in 51 countries.

“I want to make kids understand and play this game. We can’t treat them like adults. We need to make them ask questions, and not make them blindly keep running. It’s just about what you do, at what time. I just keep it the way nature intended it to be and that’s why these methods are successful,” said Horst.