Kolkata: Young Indian footballer Kshitij Kumar Singh has joined under-15 squad of the Dutch club, NEC Nijmegen FC.
The 13-year old striker from Delhi, who is a part of the second year batch of the Reliance Foundation Youth Champs (RFYC) residential football programme has been selected by the Dutch club after he had appeared for the trials of PSV Eindhoven and NEC Nijmegen.
He was selected for the U-15 team after two rounds of trials with the club.
NEC Nijmegen FC is a Netherlands based professional football club that participates in the ‘Eerste Divisie.’ It also participates in international tournaments involving various top European clubs and in many youth leagues.
Excited on his selection Kshitij said, “I am very excited to join NEC Youth team. I want to thank all my coaches and fellow players at RF Young Champs who have motivated me to perform better continuously. I want to thank Mrs. Ambani especially for all her support and for providing me the opportunity and belief to be the best. I would love to play for the Indian national team in the future.”
Beginning his journey at the age of six in the Baichung Bhutia academy, he had moved to FCB Escola, a youth academy of Barcelona.
Reportedly, he was spotted by Piet Hubers, the Technical Director of ISL, in a grassroot programme of the ISL based outfit Delhi Dynamos. He took the 13-year old footballer to the Reliance Foundation where Kumar played 29 games, scoring 31 goals also providing 25 assists.
Chairperson of the RFYC programme Mrs. Nita Ambani, was extremely proud of the lad. She said that Kshitij’s move will attract more scouts from top European clubs and will also set the benchmark for other young stars to achieve the feat.
“We are extremely proud of the progress made by the 48 champions (referring to the 48 scholars present in the RFYC programme). Children like Kshitij Kumar are the future of Indian football. He is dedicated and disciplined at this young age which makes him a force to reckon with on the ground. We are sure he will pave a way for more scouting from foreign countries in India as well as increase the belief among players here to play in the best leagues in the world.”