Minerva Punjab signs MoU with Bundesliga club Borussia Monchengladbach

The partnership aims to develop football at grassroots level and focus on youth development.

Club officials exchange jerseys. (from the left: Dennis Mertgen, (project manager, global operations, Borussia Monchengladbach), Peter Hambuchen (head of global operations), Rannvijay Singha (youth icon and Minerva co-owner), Aditya Goyal (director and co-owner), Sunando Dhar (CEO, I-League) and Renedy Singh (ex-Indian footballer)

I-League champion Minerva Punjab FC has announced a partnership with Bundesliga club Borussia Monchengladbach, with representatives from the two clubs signing a Memorandum of Understanding on Saturday in New Delhi.

The long-term partnership means Monchengladbach will help Minerva in developing football at the grassroots level and focus on youth development. The Bundesliga club will also act as a consultant for all football-related matters.

The partnership will see the clubs hold a summer camp across Indian cities in May this year.

Minerva founder and director Ranjit Bajaj spoke about the importance of youth development and bringing passion into Indian football.

“The passion we saw at Borussia is unmatchable. Football is a part of life for the people in their city. 50,000 people supporting vociferously. It gave me goosebumps and I thought to myself -- one day, India will get there but with their (Borussia) help, it can be made a little bit faster.”

Peter Hambuchen, Monchengladbach's head of global operations said the club's focus was on youth development.

“Our focus is quality in youth development. We see this (partnership with Minerva) as a good opportunity. It is now a common task for both the clubs to find the right steps to move forward. We don’t want to pretend anything or give false promises. Our objective is to do something sustainable. We’ve got our first view of Indian football and now we will go back to Germany and then work together with the Minerva Punjab team.”