Shillong, Aug 4: Founder and Director of Minerva Academy FC, Ranjit Bajaj, will visit Shillong on August 13 and 14 to attend the 2nd edition of Dynamic Futsal Challenge – Northeast Open, where he will scout promising footballers and futsal players from Meghalaya.
In a video message addressed to the people of Meghalaya, Bajaj said he was looking forward to visiting the state on the invitation of his “very dear friend” Andrew.
“I’m so happy because I’m going to be seeing you very soon. On the 13th and 14th of August, I’ll be there,” Bajaj said.
During his visit, Bajaj said he would be identifying talented players for the National Futsal League as well as for Minerva Academy FC’s youth development programme.
“We’ll be scouting boys from the Dynamic Futsal Challenge for the National Futsal League, but also for Minerva Academy because we’re looking for young talent,” he said.
The scouting drive will focus on players born between 2015 and 2019, providing aspiring youngsters from Meghalaya and elsewhere from the region with an opportunity to be noticed by one of India’s leading football academies.
Encouraging young footballers to seize the opportunity, Bajaj said the next generation of stars could emerge from Meghalaya, following in the footsteps of players who have brought pride to both the state and the country.
“You might be the next big star from Meghalaya, the ones who have made us so proud and shown the world that Indians and Meghalayans can play football,” he said.
The second edition of Dynamic Futsal Challenge – Northeast Open is expected to attract young footballers from across the region, with Bajaj’s visit adding further significance to the tournament by offering talented players a potential pathway into elite football and futsal development programmes.
Widely regarded as one of India’s leading football academies, Minerva Academy, popularly known as “The Factory”, has built a reputation for consistently producing elite footballers. The academy has developed more than 240 players who have represented India across various age groups, with many graduates going on to play in the Indian Super League (ISL) and I-League. On the field, Minerva became the first club from North India to win the I-League in 2018 and has claimed multiple AIFF youth titles across the U-13, U-15 and U-18 categories. The academy has also won the Subroto Cup twice and the National Futsal Club Championship, establishing itself as one of the most successful youth football institutions in the country.
Internationally, it has become a trailblazer for Indian football and transformed perceptions of Indian grassroots football. In 2023, it became the first Indian academy to win the prestigious Gothia Cup in Sweden, often described as the “Youth World Cup” because it attracts thousands of teams from dozens of countries. The victory was seen as a watershed moment for Indian youth football. It has gone on to win the cup in different age categories in 2025 and 2026, making it the first Indian academy to achieve that feat. The academy has also won the Mina Cup in UAE (2022), the Dana Cup (2025) in Denmark, Norway Cup (2025) in Norway, and Helsinki Cup (2026) in Finland.
One of their most talked-about results came in 2026 when they defeated Liverpool FC’s Under-15 side 6-0 at the Mediterranean International Cup in Spain, a result that drew international attention to the academy’s player development model.
