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What's the story?
Former England and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey will arrive in India on December 8 later this year to unveil his plans of promoting and developing football in the country.
According to a release issued on Saturday, the striker will travel to several cities across India along with UK-based real estate tycoon Atif Malik as a part of the venture that aims to interact and engage with young children and fans.
Heskey said, "The success of the FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017 speaks volume about the appetite for football in India. Through our initiative we aim to associate as many kids as possible with the sport and help them consider football as a serious profession in future''.
In case you didn't know...
Emile Heskey made more than 500 appearances in the English top division over an 18-year-long career and has represented England in international football. He also had a spell in Australia, playing for the A-League club Newcastle Jets.
He played for Leicester City from 1994 to 2000 and moved to Liverpool playing another four seasons up to 2004.
The heart of the matter
Malik stated that the footballer has some great plans to develop the sport in India. He said that they had started the Emile Heskey and Atif Malik Foundation earlier in order to help the homeless in the city of Manchester.
He added that this will be their second association together and will be completely different from the first.
What's next?
The duo is expected to arrive in India and disclose further details about the venture very soon.
Author's take
It will be interesting to see whether his words turn into some serious business or if it proves to be a marketing gimmick. Here's hoping this partnership helps improve the state of the sport in India.
