For 11-year-old Chandan Nayak, football is everything. And now, the boy from an impoverished area of Bhubaneswar will train at German champions Bayern Munich. Nayak will be an academy player at Bayern for two months after being selected for their training programme, an all-expenses-paid football camp for budding footballers.
Nayak, who lives in Bhubaneswar's Sabar Sahi slum, dreams of playing for the Indian football team. "I am very happy, want to become a player for the Indian team one day. I really want to thank my coach," he told ANI. Nayak's coach Jayadev Mahapatra said that the 11-year-old's family was extremely underprivileged, who struggled to make ends meet, but added that the boy's resilience against mounting difficulties should be seen as a sign of bravery.
"His family is a broken one," Mahapatra said. "His father had deserted him at a very young age. His mother works as a servant at various places and is able to manage the family. She has sacrificed a lot to ensure that her children are brought up in a proper way. Naik coming from a poor family stands as a sign of bravery because against all odds, he has proved his talent."
Explaining how Nayak was selected for the camp, Mahapatra said, "The selection criteria says that the age should be between 14 to 16 and being an 11-year-old kid he was not allowed, but we asked them to give him a chance, [and] he surprised everyone."
Mahapatra further said that his protege would gain unparalleled experience during the Bayern camp. "In Germany, he will be playing [alongside] greats like Philipp Lahm. The best coaches of the world will train him. Around 120 students from across the world will be coming. The training he will receive there is beyond comparison [from what] we can give him in India. It is a huge opportunity," he said.