Liverpool, whose American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett are desperately trying to arrange a US$500 million refinancing, have signed a potentially lucrative deal in India.

The club will partner with the Abhijeet Kadam Memorial Foundation to establish the Abhijit Kadam Football Development Centre. It will be based at Bharati Vidyapeeth University, and will offer youngsters the chance to combine studies with coaching from Liverpool's coaches.

Courses taught at the club-sponsored school will include coaching, refereeing and Sports Science. Though the partnership itself offers no immediate financial reward for Liverpool, such schools are increasingly seen as a massively effective way to maximise a club's brand in any given country. Should Liverpool become the soccer club to successfully make an impact in India, a country of more than a billion people, then potential revenues could be huge.

The opening of the school is just the first step in Liverpool's ambitions in India. The club's commercial director Ian Ayre said, "This project brings football with first class education and an ambition to feed the Indian game. It's certainly an exciting start and one of a variety of key projects that Liverpool will unveil in the Indian market over the coming months."