Bibiano Fernandes starts India U15 camp in Bengaluru ahead of FIFA U15 World Cup & Festival
The India U15 men’s national team camp for the inaugural FIFA U15 World Cup & Festival opened at the Centre for Sports Excellence in Bengaluru on Sunday, August 16, under head coach Bibiano Fernandes. The camp is part of preparations for the tournament scheduled to take place in Azerbaijan from October 22 to 31, 2026.
Fernandes took charge after signing his contract following the AIFF Executive Committee’s approval of his appointment on August 6, with Surinder Singh named as his assistant. Fernandes first led the U15 side in 2017 and has since worked across India’s youth teams, overseeing campaigns that saw India qualify for the AFC U17 Asian Cup in 2018, 2020, 2023 and 2026. Under his stewardship India reached the quarter-finals of the AFC U16 Championship 2018 and claimed five SAFF age-group titles: the SAFF U15 Championship in 2017 and 2019, the SAFF U17 Championship in 2022 and 2025, and the SAFF U19 Championship in 2025.
Surinder Singh joins the staff as an AFC Pro Licence holder with coaching experience in domestic club football and international youth football. He has previously served as head coach of Delhi FC and Minerva Punjab FC and was part of the Philippines U17 women’s coaching staff that helped the team qualify for the AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup 2026.
AIFF Deputy Secretary General Mr M Satyanarayan described the scouting groundwork behind the squad: "The scouting process for this age group has been underway for nearly two years, well before FIFA announced the inaugural FIFA U15 World Cup and Festival. Our original objective was to identify and develop promising players for our AIFF-FIFA Talent Academies, with a focus on 2011 and 2012-born players. The timing has worked very well for us, as the players identified through that process can now form the core of our preparations for the U15 World Cup." He added, "More than 12,000 players were assessed across the last two seasons, with scouts working across competitions and different parts of the country to identify talent. This gives us a strong pool from which to select and further develop the players for this opportunity. The inaugural U15 World Cup and Festival is an exciting new platform for these young players, and we want to give them the right exposure and preparation to make the most of it."
As part of the AIFF’s implementation of the FIFA Talent Development Scheme and the principle of ‘Giving Every Talent A Chance’, more than 12,000 boys in the 2011-2012 age group were evaluated during the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons by a network of 60 scouts. That scouting effort monitored players across more than 20 competitions and platforms, including the AIFF Elite, Junior and Sub-Junior Youth Leagues; Junior and Sub-Junior Boys’ National Football Championships (Tier 1 and Tier 2); School Games Federation of India competitions; Reliance Foundation youth leagues; Subroto Cup; state leagues; district leagues; private tournaments and SAI assessment camps.
The identification process involved central trials and state-level assessments: 160 players were invited to central trials at the AIFF-FIFA Talent Academy in Bhubaneswar and 205 were assessed in Hyderabad, while state associations ran local trials with top performers recommended for national assessment. The AIFF also tracked Indian citizen players developing overseas to include them in the national talent pool, and Fernandes visited the AIFF-FIFA Talent Academy in Odisha from August 12 to 15 as part of preparatory work.
The ongoing camp in Bengaluru is in a trial phase with coaching staff evaluating players before naming the final 14-member squad for the tournament, and participants are being invited in different batches with those not retained released back to their clubs and academies. Players at the camp will receive match exposure through friendly games against higher age-group teams of clubs and academies, and the AIFF has indicated it will seek international U15 friendlies as part of the Blue Colts’ final preparations.
The coaching staff must finalise the 14-member squad ahead of the inaugural FIFA U15 World Cup & Festival, which is scheduled to be held in Azerbaijan from October 22 to 31, 2026.