---
title: "Aston Villa Set To Open Up A New Football Academy In India"
canonical: "https://readastonvilla.com/2016/07/25/aston-villa-set-open-new-football-academy-india/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Sheldon Muchmore"
section: "Aston Villa News"
published: "2016-07-25T16:32:16Z"
modified: "2016-07-25T16:32:16Z"
---

# Aston Villa Set To Open Up A New Football Academy In India

When Xia first took over as the owner of Aston Villa back in June, he declared that one of his main aims is to eventually make Villa one of the most popular and well-known clubs around the world.

A week ago, Xia took his first small step towards achieving this particular aim when he took Di Matteo to his native China for a press conference about Aston Villa. Now, according to the

Now, according to the [Birmingham Mail](https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-plans-expand-club-11660542), Xia has taken another significant step towards increasing Villa’s global popularity by getting permission to open up a new football academy in India following successful talks with the Minister of Education and Minister of Sports. It will be Villa’s first academy outside of England.

The brand new state of the art academy will be situated in New Delhi and will come complete with 3G pitches, gyms, offices and classrooms.

Villa also want to create a [partnership](https://www.squawka.com/news/aston-villa-opens-first-football-academy-outside-of-england-in-india/732594) with a club who plays in the Indian Super League in the hope that they will be able to find talented players from India who then hopefully, go on to become a first-team player at Villa Park.

The popularity of football is rapidly growing in India. In its first season, the Indian Super League had the fourth highest attendance in the world. Only the [Premier League](https://readpl.com/), [Bundesliga](https://readbundesliga.com/) and the [La Liga](https://readlaliga.com/) had higher attendances. To add to this, India will soon host its first international football tournament when it hosts the 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup.