I want to play in the Champion’s League one day: footballer Shubho Paul

Shubho

Paul was just six when the football bug bit him. He would watch his elder brother, Raju, dribble, pass or shoot and fell in love with the sport. And when he started playing, Raju was quick to spot his potential and ensured that he trained under a good coach. “Everyone in my family is a football fan, but my brother supported me the most. Being a footballer himself, he understood my passion. But to ensure that I could play, he gave up the

sport

so that he could financially support my family,” Shubho told us during a chat.

A humble beginning

The 17-year-old, who has managed to prove himself not only in the Indian football scene but also impressed talent scouts for Bayern

Munich

and secured a berth in the German’s soccer club’s World Squad, recalled how he got his first pair of boots. “Once I went to watch

Chima Okorie

practise. I was so impressed by his skills that I had started going there regularly. One day, he asked me to join instead of just watching. He was impressed with my skills and asked me to continue. After a few practise sessions, he noticed that I was the only barefooted player and he gifted me my first football boots,” said Shubho, whose Howrah-based lower-middle-class family couldn’t afford football gear back then. “Despite our financial hurdles, my parents always asked me to solely concentrate on the sport. Even studies were not that big a priority,” the centre-forward added.

A professional footballer is born

Raju made sure that his brother never lost focus. “Back then, I would train with Chima Okorie in the morning and every afternoon, my brother would take me to my coach Tapan Karmakar’s centre. This continued till I shifted to Delhi in 2017 to play for

Sudeva FC

,” said Shubho, who has scored two goals in for the Suvenda FC senior team and eight for the Indian U-17 team, including a brace against Bahrain in 2019.

As for his talent on the field, the World Squad selection is proof enough. According to the Bayern Munich FC website, a total of 654 players from 64 nations showed off their skills in more than 1,200 short videos to apply for a place in the squad. “The only requirement for participation was the year of birth, 2003 or 2004. The scouting and decision-making process was led by a professional coaching team with former Bayern captain and

World Cup

winner Klaus Augenthaler and international

FC Bayern

youth coach Christopher Loch. They will now also lead the digital training of the selected young talents, in which special focus will be placed on team building and cultural exchange in addition to the sporting aspects. The FC Bayern World Squad will conclude with a training camp in Munich for all selected talents,” says the club website, adding that the highlight will be a match between the World Squad and FC Bayern U19.

When asked about the

online

training the website mentions, Shubho said, “Online training sessions are very technical, but nothing beats real-life training. For the online training of FC Bayern Munich, I will have to maintain a log sheet. At the end of the training, I’ll fly to Mexico and from there, to Germany, where I’ll have to submit the log sheet so that my training can be designed accordingly.”

The road ahead

A Cristiano Ronaldo fan, Shubho is very clear about what he wants next in life. “First I want to get selected for FC Bayern Munich and maybe one day, I’ll play in the Champions League,” he said.

Amen, we say!