Libero Sports Drives Establishment of Indias First Premier League Club Branded Residential Academy
In 2013, Pune based conglomerate, DSK Group, shared with Libero Sports the organizations’ objective of setting up a strong youth development system to feed into their local club DSK Shivajians while, at the same time, having a profound positive impact on the Indian football industry.
Libero Sports took on the challenge and, through its Player Representation group, first provided DSK Shivajians with players that drove its qualification for the I-League 2nd division and established a national brand for the club. Post that, the Strategic Consulting team stepped in and facilitated a landmark partnership between Liverpool FC and DSK Group with a commitment from both parties to establish a full-fledged Liverpool FC branded residential academy at the DSK International Campus.
By 2015, the Liverpool International Football Academy DSK Shivajians currently houses 64 of India’s top U19 and U17 players and are coached by Liverpool FC trainers who are based in Pune full time. The Academy team, under name DSK Shivajians U19, recently competed in the U19 I-League and finished [in 2nd place] ahead of some of India’s top professional clubs in its founding year.