New Delhi: France's 1998 World Cup winner Laurent Blanc says the primary goal of setting up the Paris Saint-Germain Academy in India is to develop youth football in the country and allow them to get a taste of the way the French play the sport.
The top French club, Paris Saint-Germain Academy, which is being coached by Blanc, will be opening its doors in Delhi NCR in July. They lost to Chelsea in the quarterfinals of this season's UEFA Champions League.
"Well, the goal of the academy is to get the people to know French football and try to develop youth football in India," Blanc told PTI during a teleconference.
The former Barcelona and Manchester United defender added, "But the academy more strongly has a social objective to allow the young players of India and may be, the kid in need to know social success through football and we are pretty sure that academy will bring such a thing forward."
The 48-year-old Blanc was the manager of the French national team until 2012, after replacing Raymond Domenech in the wake of the 2010 FIFA World Cup controversy in South Africa. He was also a part of the French team that triumphed in Euro 2000, two years after their historic World Cup win at home.
Talking further about PSG's interests in India, Blanc said, "India is a great country, great population, very strong youth population. So sports has to be present. Football is the most popular sports in the world. Therefore, I'm not really surprised that India decides to open up to football and that's why I'm really happy at the launch of PSG academy in India.
"I think it's a good thing for French football to open up to India and gain some interest in India and most importantly it's a very good thing for the youth of the country."
Asked about the 2010 fiasco in South Africa when the team revolted against the then coach Raymond Domenech, Blanc was surprised that the issue was still being talked about.
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