I-League has often been dubbed as a factory, producing future stars, who then go on to achieve much greater things in the future. The 2020-21 season of the Hero I-League seems to have thrown up another new talent – Shubho Paul.

So impressive were his performances in the league for his club Sudeva Delhi FC, that the 17-year-old has now been selected in the FC Bayern Munich’s World Squad (U-19), a squad that has been hand-picked by FIFA World Cup 1990 champions Klaus Augenthaler.

“It’s a really happy moment for me and my family. It’s really an amazing feeling,” Shubho said to the-aiff.com. “We had a decent first season in the I-League, and our club management sent in some of my match videos, and suddenly I was informed that I had been selected by Bayern Munich.”

“It is like a dream, but I also have a thought in the back of my mind that I need to make my nation proud, once I go there,” he continued. “I want to play in such a manner that they should look at my game and think that a good player has come out of India. Ultimately, I would love to make it to both the Bayern Munich and the India Senior Teams.”

While Shubho’s initial selection was done on the basis of videos, the German giants had inisited on full match footages, in order to get a better analysis, the young attacker informed. At first, a total of 100 players from around the world were selected fort the World Squad. Successively, the list was narrowed down to 64, to 35, and finally to 15, of which Shubho is a part.