After spending over two decades encouraging a spirit of sports and nurturing football talent in the region, the Jalandhar village of Rurka Kalan has opened doors of its massive multipurpose sports facility to benefit thousands of players in the region.A plush sporting club built at a cost of Rs 23 crore — the Generation Amazing Community Club (GACC) — an offshoot of the Youth Football Club (YFC), Rurka Kalan, provides state-of-the-art stadiums, gym, dorms, food and communication centres for the region’s players on a single premises — all for free. The GACC will benefit 5,000 players being trained by YFC.Founded in 2001, Youth Football Club (YFC), Rurka Kalan, has other branches across districts in Punjab and in Gujarat.GACC’s flaming red brick building rising amidst acres of fields at Rurka Kalan greets one with manicured gardens, glistening marble-floored lobby, massive glass windows, air-conditioned rooms, wall-to-wall carpeting, a sparkling multi-cuisine kitchen with a pantry and a fine dining restaurant/mess.Gurmangal Das Soni, founder, YFC, says, “YFC was started as an endeavour to keep drugs at bay in our village and keep the youth engaged. The club already had a central office and two stadiums (a football and another for cricket) at the village. On the sidelines of the Qatar World Cup, our proposal for a community sports centre — applied for in 2018 — was cleared by FIFA. The centre is among five across the world with the others being at Jordan, Doha, Philippines and Rwanda. The centre’s first phase was opened in 2025.”Set up across 7 acres, GACC is built on land donated from Soni’s own landholdings worth Rs 4 crore. Rs 5 crore were donated by FIFA’s Doha committee, Rs 3 crore by Adidas Foundation, Rs 7 crore were pooled through YFC proceeds from donations by NRIs and the local community.The GACC campus houses a football stadium, basketball/ pickle ball court, indoor stadium, upcoming pool, a bespoke steel kitchen, elevators, digital gym, sound-proof carpeted auditorium, conference room, multipurpose room (for dance/indoor sports), air-conditioned and solar-powered interiors with plush dorms (for 24 players) and guest rooms.Alumni Anwar Ali, an Indian footballer who currently is the head coach at Rurka Kalan, says, “After a two-decade career in football, I came back to coach youth here because the club is among the best grassroots infrastructures that football players can hope for. The coach’s suggestions are valued and students get the best facilities.”Hoshiarpur MP Rajkumar Chabbewal, who recently visited the centre, says, “The centre at Rurka Kalan is excellent. It needs to be replicated elsewhere in the state.”Rurka Kalan has produced 25 to 30 football players of international repute in the over two decades, including one of the highest-paid Indian footballers Anwar Ali, Prem Kumar, Surjit Sandhu (goalkeeper, Indian football team, 1982 Asian Games), Lovepreet and Narinder Kaushal among others.Rurka Kalan’s team of 10 footballers (seven-a-side format) has bagged silver in the just-concluded Street Child World Cup 2026 at Mexico.Barring football, YFC also trains players in wrestling, badminton, kabaddi and cricket under 20 coaches.