Indian Football is still in its Developing phase and footballers from small cities have to struggle hard to be noticed. After being a part of the AIFF elite academy, nothing was planned or certain. During this period I got an opportunity to go to FC Metz thanks to Mr. Eric Benny. Playing at the Ligue 1 club in France was a dream come true. A budding football player couldn't have asked for a better platform to prove himself at that point in his career. Working with Mr. Eric Benny was a great...Read more
The biggest surprise I had, when Eric called me to Germany, cannot be expressed, need to be experienced, wow!!! what a infrastructure in Germany, in India even big clubs don't have, I never imagined to that high standard of infrastructure & training my son will get, I would say Nikhil is blessed to have it, and I need to thank for Eric & team giving such wonderful environment, it's not only football, education system in Germany is better than any other place in Europe. I am very sure in coming years Eric is going to make India proud for his great work. ...Read more
Having found my son's passion for playing football from a young age of 10, we as parents weren't very sure how to guide him because I never played football. Growing up in the 70s & 80s cricket is what I was used to as a sport like many other of my generation. He wanted to go to an international level competition with football and that was his dream which then became ours too. We encouraged him through school and he did not disappoint us. The big moment came for us when he was picked for a potential talent pool with the Under-17 team of ...Read more
I have worked with Eric Benny for the last three years in my role as Technical Director for the All India Football Federation (AIFF). Eric was instrumental in establishing a relationship between AIFF and FC Metz, which lead to both parties signing an MOU that included opportunities for our young Academy players to train at FC Metz. The MOU also included possible coach exchanges and coach education programs etc. The way FC Metz looked after our players for the three month period was exceptional. They provided a professional assessment of the five players and ...Read more
