Freshworks CEO Girish Mathrubootham invested around US$ 1 million towards building a football academy, FC Madras. The academy, accredited by the All India Football Federation (AIFF), has launched a facility at Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu.
Personalities, including table tennis player Neha Aggarwal Sharma, and hockey player Viren Rasquinha, took to Twitter and lauded Girish's dream to see "Messi from Madras".
Congrats @mrgirish for creating such a fantastic world class ecosystem for U13 kids at @fcmadras ⚽️ It is one of India’s best residential sports facility- all things needed for training under one roof including education as well!
— Neha Aggarwal Sharma OLY (@nehaaggarwal) March 19, 2023
May ur dream to see #MessifromMadras come true🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/Z2SxBbkNTg
Was thrilled to be at the opening of the state of the art U-13 & U-15 residential Football Academy FC Madras at Mahabalipuram. What thought & effort has gone into building this world class project by the incredible @mrgirish of Freshworks. Their dream tagline #MessiFromMadras ❤️ pic.twitter.com/wY070rgey3
— Viren Rasquinha (@virenrasquinha) March 19, 2023
"It is encouraging to see the government and private companies take a bigger interest in sports and its infrastructure, and with the new FC Madras campus, I believe we have taken another step forward to inspire other leaders and businesses to create similar academies because our future champions need it," Mathrubootham, founder of FC Madras, said.
The 23-acre integrated campus with football pitches, medical and recovery facilities, a swimming pool, and a residential hostel was inaugurated on Saturday, March 18, 2023. According to a press statement, fifty candidates have been chosen after a country-wide scouting program and were invited to Chennai for a 7-day camp.
According to media reports, Abhishek Yadav, the former national football team captain who also served AIFF, would be the CEO while Venkatesh Shanmugam, former Indian team captain and assistant coach, would be the technical director.
