Players from Leicester City Football Club (LCFC) are to visit Goa in October following the launch of a football initiative Friday by the British High Commissioner to India, Sir Richard Stagg.

The Leicester India Football initiative (LIFI) will link up with Goa and enable a group of under-12 and under-14 players to visit the Indian state to play a local football team, Leicester East MP Keith Vaz said.

LCFC scouts will visit local community teams in order to select the squad to play in Goa.

'The best way to show the global reach of football is to allow young people to create links with their counterparts on the Indian subcontinent,' Vaz said.

'This imaginative scheme will allow these already existing links to be developed and allow grass root talent to play on an international level,' he added.

LCFC chairman Milan Mandaric added: 'LCFC is delighted to support this initiative. Leicester's link with India is well known and I hope that will increase in the future.'

Leicester has the largest population of Gujaratis outside India and is sometimes called Little India.