This Jordan is passionate about the beautiful game

Football is fun. I want to play more matches,” says Jordan Mobin Paul. The Bengaluru FC academy player has caught the football bug.

His 23 goals in eight games for the U-7 academy side in the Double Pass Development League, an All India Football Federation approved Baby League, so far this season is testament to it. His goals have put him miles ahead of the second-highest scorer.

“I watched Barcelona vs Real Madrid and both teams scored many goals,” says the young Lionel Messi fan about his first vivid memory of the beautiful game.

Having started his training stint with Bangalore Soccer Academy, his quest for ‘more matches’ brought him to BFC’s Soccer School, the club’s commercial programme, from where the seven-year-old was scouted and brought into the Academy fold within six months.

Now, a proud member of the team, Jordan is slated to play a minimum of 24 matches in the league this season, with knockout games and others a bonus.

Richard Hood, former head of player development at the All India Football Federation, has often stressed the number of competitive matches as a primary requisite for the development of youngsters.

And here, Jordan has his wish.

“It’s all football only now,” says his father Mobin Paul, who relocated to Bengaluru from Kerala a decade ago for work. “He’s always kicking the ball around in the house. On TV, it’s only sports now and no cartoon. Even when we ask if he wants to go for a trip or play football, he chooses the matches.”

Jordan, a Freedom International School student, has training three days a week followed by matches at the weekend and his parents, especially his mother Priya who takes him to the camps on weekdays, are keen to help their son follow his dream.

One, that his coach Jeevan Jayaraj, feels is quite within his reach.

“He is technically very good, his decision making as well. He’s strong also and that’s what we focus on at this age.

“Above 12 years, we work on the tactical side,” reveals the academy coach adding that the young boy is always active on the field. “If he carries on like this, he can be a top player.”

The dream, it would seem, is there for the taking.