MANCHESTER, England, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Despite a combined population of nearly 1.6 billion people and a deeply engrained passion for football, there are no players from India or Thailand in England's Premier League, but Manchester United ( MANU ) are hoping that may soon change.

The club and sponsor Apollo Tyres invited six young players from India, Nepal, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates, from an original pool of 15,000, to Old Trafford last week to work on their skills with United coaches as part of the 'United We Play' initiative to empower footballers from untapped communities.

"I'm a big believer that the most important part of a talent development is opportunity," said United's Director of Academy Nick Cox. "I hope that this programme is inspiring young people, I think that's really important, that people realise that what they're trying to achieve is possible and is real."

Former United player Louis Saha kicked off the fourth edition of the programme a year ago in Kolkata, India. Former United captain Gary Neville oversaw the grand finale of the competition, from which the half dozen players were chosen, in Chandigarh in October.

"This is a brilliant opportunity for these young kids to experience what it takes to get to the top," said former United defender John O'Shea, who helped put the young players through their paces in torrential rain.

"Seeing the team train under tough conditions will help to build their resilience, a quality they'll need if they want to get into the professional leagues."

More than 100 coaches in India and elsewhere also participated in the club's United Soccer Schools training sessions.

While former FIFA boss Sepp Blatter called India a "sleeping giant," the country's staggering population has yet to translate into global football success. The national men's team is ranked 125th in the world and India have never played in a World Cup.

The 1950s-60s are considered India's golden years of football when they won Asian Games gold in 1951 and 1962 and finished fourth at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne.

In 2010, India's Sunil Chetri signed for the Kansas City Wizards in Major League Soccer but did not play for the first team, while India goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu had a three-year stint at Norwegian club Stabaek.

The All India Football Federation last year launched its 'Vision 2047' project, with aims of ranking among Asia's top four countries and to have produced at least one player -- each in men's and women's football -- with international renown by 2047.

While the sport's popularity does not rival that of cricket, some 100,000 fans show up for the annual Kolkata derby between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, which dates back 100 years.