Evaluation process
Eight coaches, including the Technical director - Javier Cabrera, Regional Co-ordinator from West Zone - Saul Vazquez Chas and the Senior Specialist in Sports Projects Development - David Garcia Gomez evaluated the students.
The following criteria was used for it -- technical skill, demonstrated history of progression and strong performance in La Liga Football Schools, exemplary behaviour, attitude, studies and strong sporting values like commitment, effort, team spirit, respect, teamwork and humbleness.
Flagship programme
This year, the 34 players represented seven different cities including Bengaluru Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka.
The students hail from different centres of La Liga's flagship programme, LaLiga Football Schools, which has presence in 14 cities across India.
Several initiatives
With the primary aim of imparting high quality technical training to students and coaches in the country, La Liga has undertaken several initiatives under the Football Schools project including the annual scholarship, Train the Trainer, Training Camps and many more.
Since its launch in 2018, La Liga Football Schools has reached out to over 10,000 students across 30 plus centres in the country.
Reward opportunity
Commenting about the initiative, La Liga India Managing Director Jose Antonio Cachaza said, "La Liga Football Schools has been one of our most important projects in India. Over the past 1.5 years, we've made huge strides in making an impact at the grassroots development of the sport and this Scholarship is one step further in that direction.
"The Scholarship creates a reward opportunity for the young aspiring footballers and then allows the students who visit Spain to circulate their knowledge among their peers. Last year, four students were selected from India and judging by the potential we saw at the National Camps this year, we expect more return from this initiative."