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Neil Taylor Picks up Player Award at the third Asian Football Awards (AFA)

November 20, 2015 footballnewsindia Leave a comment

Wales and Premier League star wins prestigious award

Aditi Chauhan, the West Ham United Ladies FC and India national goalkeeper, won the Woman in Football Award
Swansea City FC and Wales defender Neil Taylor picked up the Player Award at the third Asian Football Awards (AFA) in a glittering ceremony at Wembley Stadium on Thursday evening.
Taylor overcame a challenge from Wolverhampton Wanderers FC captain Danny Batth and the West Bromwich Albion FC and England U17 striker Adil Nabi, currently on loan at Delhi Dynamos FC in the Indian Premier League.
As well as cementing his place as a regular in Swansea’s defence, the 26-year-old Taylor will be off to Euro 2016 next year after helping Wales qualify for a major tournament for the first time since the 1958 World Cup.
Taylor, whose mother is from Kolkata in India, also won the award in 2013.
He said: “It’s a great feeling to win this award. I am pleased to be here tonight to pick it up, it means a lot to me. Hopefully Asian football flourishes throughout the years.My advice to any young aspiring player is to sacrifice. You have to be willing to sacrifice and
follow your own path of where you want to go, where you want to be and what you want to
achieve. You also need to have people who are willing to go on that journey with you.
Whatever background you are from, it doesn’t matter. You can make it to the top. Hopefully this can inspire the next generation of footballers.”
The judging panel for the awards included ex-England internationals Jermain Defoe, Graeme Le Saux and Steve Coppell, and Asian Football Awards founder Baljit Rihal said: “Our vision has constantly been to support the growth of Asians in football in the UK. Since our inaugural event in 2012, the media attention and support from all across the industry has been encouraging. “I can proudly say that the Asian Football Awards has been, and will continue to be, a significant platform to inspire more Asians into every aspect of the game.
“However, there is still much work to be done, as progress in increasing representation across the industry has been far too slow.more…“Our hope is that these awards will once again raise the Asians in football debate in the mainstream media and that influential organisations make an intensive effort to help rectify this longstanding imbalance.”
Aston Villa defender Easah Suliman, who recently represented England at the Under-17 World Cup in Chile, was named AFA Young Player. Two years ago Suliman became the first player with Pakistani heritage to captain an England representative side.
He said: “I feel very honoured and privileged to be here at such a great event. Neil Taylor is a massive inspiration for what he has achieved with Wales and Swansea. If I can emulate him I will have a decent career.”
South Korean star Ji So-yun, who plays for Chelsea Ladies in the Women’s Super League,
claimed the South East Asian Award ahead of Southampton’s Maya Yoshida and Swansea’s KiSung-Yueng.
Gurjit Singh, from Kidderminster Harriers, was the winner of the Non-League Award, while Aditi Chauhan, the West Ham United Ladies FC and India national goalkeeper, won the Woman in Football Award.

Mohun Bagan to fight it out in court

November 10, 2015 footballnewsindia Leave a comment

Mohun Bagan to file a liquidation suit against United Spirits Limited.

Mohun Bagan A.C. has had a long standing tie-up with UB Group since 1998 as the Sponsor of the Football Team and formed a company in the name of United Mohun Bagan Football Team Pvt. Ltd.

United Mohun Bagan Football Team Pvt. Ltd. had executed a Sponsorship agreement with United Spirits Limited dated 11th June 2013 for 10 years to provide financial assistance of Rs. 8 crore per year and from there on the sponsorship fund was deposited to our account every month, but since November 2014 the fund was unilaterally stopped by USL without any prior intimation.

Upon our inquiry with USL (East Division) and subsequent followup at their Head office, we came to know that Shareholders did not approve the said deal in their EGM dated November 28, 2014. However, in spite of not receiving any payment, Mohun Bagan continued in their commitment to give proper mileage and visibility to the brand “McDowell” as mentioned in the agreement.

On the other hand, Mohun Bagan have constantly tried to resolve the issue on the basis of our cordial relationship with USL but all our effort was unfruitful.

After hearing the current situation the Executive Committee Members of Mohun Bagan A.C. discussed that there is no other option but to file a liquidation suit against USL and thus recommended the Board of Directors of United Mohun Bagan Football Team Pvt. Ltd. to initiate the same as soon as possible to recover outstanding dues and implementation of the contract executed on 11th June 2013.

DSK Shivajians to play in I-league

November 10, 2015 footballnewsindia Leave a comment

If reports are anything to go by, AIFF received a boost after Pune based team DSK Shivajians submitted their bid for playing in the top division of India, the I-league. With Bharat FC and Pune FC pulling out of the top flight, it was expected that I-league would be a nine team affair in the upcoming season.

DSK based in Pune, is running an academy in partnership Liverpool is easily expected to clear all the licensing criteria essential for I-league clubs to fulfill.

DSK submits bid, set to become I-League’s 10th club

Kerala FA announce Kerala Super League

November 9, 2015 footballnewsindia Leave a comment

Kerala Football Association has announced an ISL styled Kerala Super league that will start in Jan-Feb 2016 time frame in the state. KFA has also signed an 8 year contract with Kolkata based Celebrity Management Group for conducting the league. CMG was involved in the recently concluded Assam Premier League which was a great success.

A minimum of eight or twelve teams will compete in the league on home and away basis. Each teams will have a mandate to play U-23 and U-20 players in the team. There will also be a marquee player in each squad.

Ruud Gullit to be Brand Ambassador

Former Chelsea and AC Milan player have been approached by KFA to be the brand ambassador of the tournament. KFA president was quoted in the New Indian Express saying “Talks are in advanced stage with former AC Milan and Chelsea midfielder Ruud Gullit to be the brand ambassador of KSL”

Corporates to bid for teams

Malayalam media is reporting that corporates who have a turn over of 10 cr per year or 25 crores over the last three years will be eligible for a bid. KFA is looking for teams from Kasaragode, Wayanad, Kannur, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Thrissur, Ernakulam, Kottayam, Idukki and Thiruvananthapuram. KFA will also entertain more than one team from a district. Interested parties can download the bid document from KFA’s website starting from November 16th. A pre bid meeting for interested owners will be held in KFA’s office on November 22nd.

Peter Shilton to announce KSL teams:

United Nations in partnership with KFA is conducting a school football tourney in Kerala. Legendary British Goal Keeper Peter Shilton will be the chief guest for the final match of the UN @70 Trophy to be held in Kozhikode. Peter Shilton will announce the names of the franchises taking part in KSL.

Premier Skills Phase 2 training kicks off in India

November 7, 2015 footballnewsindia Leave a comment

The second phase of the hugely successful Premier Skills initiative, run by the Premier League and the British Council will take place from 2 to 7 November 2015 in Thiruvananthapuram, Keralaat Lakshmibai National College of Physical Education (LNCPE).

Premier Skills is a partnership between the Premier League and the British Council. It uses football as a tool to help develop both community coaching and English language skills. The programme trains sports coaches, referees and youth leaders, enhancing their existing football skills, whilst also developing their leadership skills and a greater understanding of the role football can play in tackling other social issues.

In November 2014, for the Phase 1 training, coaches and referees of the Premier Skills Kolkata Goalz programme, belonging to Kerala Football Association, Goa Football Association, Sports Authority of India, and three NGOs, were trained at Sports Authority of India (SAI) and Lakshmibai National College of Physical Education (LNCPE), Kerala. Phase 2 consists of two training programmes: Coach Education (2 – 7 November 2015) and Referee Development (2 – 4 November 2015). The coach education programme will be attended by 36 Indian coaches and 24 Indian referees will participate in the referee programme. These coaches and referees (from Goa and Kerala) have been chosen from the Phase 1 participants.

During the programme, the coaches and referees will receive training from qualified Premier Skills coaches, giving them the skills and support to develop their own community football projects and development as referees and coaches. The coaches’ training programme will be led by experienced Premier Skills Head Coach Jeremy Weeks supported by Robert Perret, Sports Development Manager with Crystal Palace FC Foundation and Cheryl Edwards, Community Coach at Aston Villa Football Club. The referee training programme will be led by Graham Laws, Referee Coach at Professional Game Match Officials Limited supported by Michael Edward Murphy, Assistant Referee Coach.

The training will end with a demonstration of skills that the coaches and referees have learnt over the course of the programme. This will be showcased on Friday 6 November and Sunday 7 November, at SAI, LNCPE, Thiruvananthapuram.

The course in Thiruvananthapuram is being jointly organised by the British Council and Premier League in association with Sports Authority of India (SAI), Lakshmibai National College of Physical Education, All India Football Federation (AIFF), Kerala Football Association (KFA) and Goa Football Association (GFA).

In addition to coaching, a range of free materials, including a dedicated website, has been created under Premier Skills for teachers and learners of English that utilise exciting Premier League content and the British Council’s world-class expertise in English.

Premier League Executive Chairman, Richard Scudamore, said:

“I am thrilled that Premier Skills will return to India this week for Phase 2 of the project. In the UK, Premier League clubs have a long-held commitment to investing in and supporting local community and education programmes and that is now being mirrored internationally, with Premier Skills operating in 25 countries. Given the increasing interest in football in India we are proud to support the country’s growing enthusiasm for the sport by providing more highly trained coaches and referees to pass on their expertise through Premier Skills.”

Mei-kwei Barker, Director, British Council South India said

“We are delighted to present Premier Skills, Phase 2 training programme, our very successful partnership project with the Premier League in South India. It combines English and football, two universal languages and with the support of our local partners in India — Sports Authority of India (SAI), Lakshmibai National College of Physical Education, All India Football Federation (AIFF), Kerala Football Association (KFA) and Goa Football Association (GFA) — we have been able to provide this opportunity. As part of Phase 2 training, the Coach Education and Referee Development programmes will be attended by successful coaches and referees from Phase 1 of the project. We hope the coaches and referees find this training useful and are able to make the most impact in their respective communities”.

The Programme

Coach Education Programme: 2 – 7 November 2015

The Coach Education curriculum aims to develop a group of local master trainers at the end of the programme. It will help to develop community coach skills and knowledge. The training will be in three parts, over 18 – 24 months and involves attendance at and graduation from each part of the training. There will be learning and practical tasks that must be completed between each of the training. Those that are successful will need to demonstrate continued progress throughout the 3 Phases and with the tasks that they will be asked to complete between the training phases. Successful Phase 3 Graduates will become Premier Skills Coach Educators – and they will have an opportunity to train and develop new Premier Skills Community Coaches to support the work of their organisation.

Referee Development programme: 2 – 4 November 2014

The Referee Development programme is a two phase programme which offers participants an introduction to refereeing at grassroots level. Participants include referees that are already working in community football programmes but who have received minimal or no formal training to improve their refereeing skills and knowledge.

For more on Premier Skills visit http://www.britishcouncil.org/society/sport/current-programmes/premier-skills.

Jammu and Kashmir Super Division League 2015 – J&K Bank crowned Champions

November 1, 2015 footballnewsindia Leave a comment

J&K Bank crowned Champions, defeated JK Forest 2-0

In the ongoing Jammu and Kashmir Super Division League Football Tournament 2015, J&K Bank defeated JK Forest XI by two goals to nil in the final match and thus crowned as the League Champions for the current playing season. The spectators in thousands witnessed the match here at TRC Synthetic Turf Football Stadium Srinagar.

Right from the whistle go Bank Team started playing their trade strategy of attacking football and got the breakthrough in 19th min by striker Adnan scoring a Superb goal on a through ball by Rizwan. Bank doubled their lead in the second half when Adnan assisted with a fine cross and Zubair netted the ball with a clean header. Rizwan came closer to score at couple of occasions by failed to convert. Forest Team also had some moments to sheer but failed to find the equalisers.

With three straight wins in the super round of top four, J&K Bank emerged as the Winners of the League 2015 securing all 9 points. JK Forest and LoneStar KFC secured 4 points each and CAPD Food Supplies were able to secure 1 point.

During the post match award ceremony Chief Guest on the occasion Hon’ ble Finance Minister Dr Haseeb A Drabu
presided over the function alongwith Guest of Honour Jinab Javaid Ahmad Shah, Secretary J&K SSC. President JKFA Jinab Z.A Thakur among other members of JKFA were also present. Dr. Drabu distributed prizes among Winners & Runners up teams and Officials of the tournament.

The tournament was being organized by J&K Football Association (DFA Srinagar) & Amblin Events. The Event was supported by J&K Bank, Khyber Cements, 92.7Big FM, Aryns Group Of Colleges, LIC of India, HK Cements, CP Advertiser, Posh Enterprises, Share Khan, Green end Corp.

India Football Forum 2015 makes grand debut in Mumbai

October 31, 2015 footballnewsindia Leave a comment

MUMBAI, 30th October 2015: Stakeholders in the growing Indian sports industry unanimously agree that the appetite for football in India is definitely on the rise though there are numerous challenges which have to be overcome before its full potential can be realised.

Senior professionals from the sports and broadcast industry deliberated on the multiple opportunities in the football sector at the Star Sports Indian Football Forum 2015 titled: “Taking Indian Football Higher, Deeper, Wider”, held in Mumbai on 29 October 2015.

The day-long conference revolved around various Knowledge Sessions such as:

Governance & Management– Faster Growth, Higher Visibility, Stronger Management
Maximising Fan Experience– Getting It Right on Air and In Stadia
Internet & Mobile Keys To Experiential Nirvana– Connecting To the Consumer in a Fast Evolving Media Landscape
Corporate Social Opportunity– The Business Potential in Grassroots Outreach

Established in 2010, the India Football Forum, the flagship property of the SportzPower Knowledge Series (SKS), brings together some of the best minds in the industry on one platform for what is the definitive conference on the business of football in this market. Additionally, to improve the overall presentation and profile of the conference, SportzPower has partnered Mumbai-based Event Capital to deliver this edition

A stellar grouping of industry stalwarts such as Nitin Kukreja, President Sports, STAR India; Ronnie Screwvala, Founder, U Sports; Peter Leible, Chief Representative Asia Pacific DFL Sports Enterprises; and Santosh Desai, MD & CEO, Future Brands, spoke on the various factors that indicate the rapid strides made by football, and the initiatives required to take it to the next level.

In his keynote address, Mr Nitin Kukreja, President Sports, STAR India, said that while merging I-League and ISL would solve much of the logistical chaos currently reigning in the Indian football calendar, no concrete progress has been made towards that. He also stressed on the need for schools and colleges to participate in the sport in a structured manner in order to allow a footballing culture to develop on a larger scale, especially in North and West India where the sport does not have much popularity.

Mr Peter Leible, Chief Representative Asia Pacific of DSL Sports Enterprises, who drew a parallel to the recent period of revival in German football to provide context to the Indian experience, said a similar widespread initiative, with emphasis on clubs doing their bit on the grassroots and academy side of things, could lead to a uniform growth of football in India though “patience” is the key criteria while implementing such programmes.

U Sports founder Ronnie Screwvala, in conversation with Conference Chair, Ayaz Memon, said that with ISL, the changes are positive in Indian football, but there needs to be an effort to develop the game at the grassroots level to actually help improve the standards of Indian football.

Adding heft to the knowledge delivery at this year’s IFF were two cutting edge case study presentations by ESP Properties and Repucom International.

Other experts who shared their views during interactions in the multiple Knowledge Sessions included:

Supratik Sen, CEO and Co-Founder, U Sports
Vinit Karnik, National Director – Entertainment, Sports &Live Events, ESP Properties
Gaurav Gokhale, Business Head, Football at Star India
Srinivasan Gopalkrishnan, AVP Marketing & Commercial – Football Sports Development Limited (ISL)
Joy Bhattacharyja – Project Director, 2017 U-17 World Cup
Indranil Das Blah, CEO, Mumbai City FC & COO, CAA Kwan
Ravi Chavan, Vice-President – South Asia, Repucom International
Mustafa Ghouse, CEO, JSW Sports Pvt Ltd.
Neetu Bhatia, Co-Founder & CEO, Kyazoonga
Nikhil Sharma, COO, Anglian Management Group; Director, ShillongLajong FC
Neel Shah, Business Director, Libero Sports India
Arun Raghu, Co-Founder and Director, Fans On Stands Sports Pvt Ltd
Nimish Raut, Country Head, Sports & Events Marketing, Red Bull India
Jitendra Joshi – Co-founder, Director, SportzConsult
Jaideep Bhatia – Partnerships Consultant, Magic Bus
Siddhartha Upadhyay – Founder and Secretary General, STAIRS
LV Krishnan – CEO, TAM Media Research
Pranesh Krishnamurthy – CEO, The Football Mind
Aneesh S Madani – Head Sports Partnerships, Twitter India

India Football Forum 2015 provided a broader perspective and key insights into the opportunities available and challenges that await in what is the most exciting sports and media market in the world at present.

Look back : India’s FIFA World Cup qualifiers from 1998 to 2014

October 16, 2015 footballnewsindia Leave a comment

With India’s 2018 World Cup qualification hopes in shambles after the 3-0 loss to Oman on Tuesday, we decided to check and compile India’s performances in world cup qualifiers over the years starting from 1998. There are some interesting results and our best qualifying campaign was for the 2002 world cup. Sukhwinder Singh coached team that had stalwarts like Baichung Bhutia, I.M Vijayan and Jo Paul Ancheri managed some great results in that campaign. Here are the results from the World Cup qualifiers matches that we played from 1998 to 2014.

1998 World Cup :

34 Asian nations took part in the 1998 World Cup qualifiers. India was in Group 10 along with Qatar, Sri Lanka and Philippines. We managed a win against Philippines, a draw with Sri Lanka and a 6-0 mauling at the hands of Qatar. Nothing to be proud of. Qatar progressed in to the next round as group winners. Iran, Japan, Saudi Arabia and South Korea represented Asia in the 1998 World Cup that took place in France.

Table :

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Qatar	3	0	0	0	14	0	14	9
2	Sri Lanka	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
3	India	3	1	1	1	3	7	-4	4
4	Philippines	3	0	0	3	0	10	-10	0

Matches :

21-Sep-96
India	2-0	Philippines
Khalifa International Stadium Doha, Qatar
24-Sep-96
Sri Lanka	1-1	India
Khalifa International Stadium Doha, Qatar
27-Sep-96
Qatar	6-0	India
Khalifa International Stadium Doha, Qatar

2002 World Cup

40 Asian nations took part in the 2002 World Cup qualifiers. India was in Group 08 along with UAE, Yemen and Brunei. This has to be our best qualification campaign in recent past. We managed to defeat UAE at home, held Yemen for a draw and thumped Brunei for a whopping five goals to nil. Coached by Sukhwinder Singh, Indian team finished third in the group. Some positives from the campaign were the home win against Arab giant UAE and the 11 goals we managed score in the campaign. South Korea, Japan (Hosts), Saudi Arabia and China PR represented Asian in the 2002 World Cup.

Table :

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	United Arab Emirates	6	4	0	2	21	5	16	12
2	Yemen	6	3	2	1	14	8	6	11
3	India	6	3	2	1	11	5	6	11
4	Brunei	6	0	0	6	0	28	-28	0

Matches :

8-Apr-01
India	1-0	UAE
Alberto 71′
Bangalore Stadium, Bangalore Attendance: 12,000
15-Apr-01
India	1-1	Yemen
Bhutia 53′		Al Ghurbani 43′
Bangalore Stadium, Bangalore Attendance: 21,000
26-Apr-01
UAE	1-0	India
Khater 63′
Sheikh Khalifa International Stadium, Al Ain City Attendance: 12,000
4-May-01
Yemen	3-3	India
Al-Salimi 13′ (p), 20′, 62′		Ancheri 16′, 38′ Vijayan 51′
Althawra Sports City Stadium, San‘a’ Attendance: 25,000
11-May-01
Brunei	0-1	India
		Ancheri 75′
Sultan Hassal Bolkiah Stadium, Bandar Seri Begawan Attendance: 4,000
20-May-01
India	5-0	Brunei
Alberto 12′ Vijayan 23′ Bhutia 35′ (p) Ancheri 59′ Hakim 80′
Bangalore Stadium, Bangalore Attendance: 7,000

2006 World Cup

In 2016 AFC introduced a preliminary round in the qualifications. 14 last ranked teams would fight it out in a preliminary round. However, India was not among the 14 last ranked nations and qualified directly to play in Round 2. India was in Group 3 along with Japan, Oman and Singapore. This campaign was nothing short of a disaster for India. This campaign ended Stephen Constantine’s first stint with India. We conceded 16 goals and could only score 2 in the whole campaign. Stephen Constantine was sacked and Sukhwinder took on the reigns in 2005.

Table :

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Japan	6	6	0	0	16	1	15	18
2	Oman	6	3	1	2	14	3	11	10
3	India	6	1	1	4	2	18	-16	4
4	Singapore	6	1	0	5	3	13	-10	3

Matches :

18-Feb-04
India	1-0	Singapore
Alberto 71′
Fatorda Stadium, Margao Attendance: 28,000
31-Mar-2004
India	1-1	Oman
Renedy 18′		Amad Ali 12′ Ahmed Mubarak 26′, 49′ Al Hinai 60′, 88′
Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Kochi Attendance: 48,000
9-Jun-04
Japan	7-0	India
Kubo 12′ Fukunishi 25′ Nakamura 29′ Suzuki 54′ Nakazawa 65′, 76′ Ogasawara 68′
Saitama Stadium, Saitama Attendance: 63,000
8-Sep-04
India	0-4	Japan
		Suzuki Goal 45′ Ono 60′ Fukunishi 71′ Miyamoto 87′
Yuva Bharati Krirangan, Bidhannagar Attendance: 90,000
13-Oct-04
Singapore	2-0	India
Sahdan Goal 73′ Mohd Goal 76
Jalan Besar Stadium, Singapore Attendance: 3,609
17-Nov-04
Oman	0-0	India

Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, Muscat Attendance: 2,000

2010 World Cup

In 2010 AFC introduced seeding for teams in the qualifiers. Seeding for the first two rounds was based each team’s performance during the qualification stage for the previous World Cup. Nations ranked 1-5 after seeding directly qualified for the third round of qualifiers, where as nations ranked 6–43 entered the first round, with teams ranked from 6–24 drawn against teams ranked from 25–43. Bob Houghton coached India was drawn against Lebanon in the first round match that was played in an home and away format. We suffered a 4-1 defeat in the away match at Lebanon but managed to hold them for a draw in Goa. Asutralia, Japan, North Korea and South Korea represented Asia in 2010 World Cup.

Matches :

08-oct-2007
Lebanon	4-1	India
Antar 33′ Ghaddar 62′, 76′ El Ali 63′		Chetri 30′
Saida International Stadium, Saida Attendance: 500
30-Oct-2007
India	1-1	Lebanon
Chhetri 29′ Dias 90+2′		Ghaddar 72′ (pen.), 85′
Fatorda Stadium, Goa Attendance: 10,000

2014 World Cup

For the 2014 World Cup, AFC’s competitions committee decided to follow the same format of 2010 World Cup qualifiers. Teams ranked 1–5 directly qualified to the group stages of qualifiers. Those ranked 6-27 received a bye to the 2nd round of qualification and teams ranked 28-43 played the 1st round of qualification. We received a bye to play in the 2nd round of qualifiers and were pitted against UAE. Armando Colaco had taken over the reigns from Bob Houghton by the time we took on UAE in an away match on 23-July-2011, in we got defeated 3-0.

23-july-2011
UAE	3-0	India
Al Kamali 21′ (pen.) Al Shehhi 29′ (pen.) Al Hammadi Goal 81′
Sheikh Khalifa International Stadium, Al Ain Attendance: 3,179
28-july-2011
India	2-2	UAE
Jeje 74′ Gouramangi 90+2′		Al Shehhi 40′ Al-Wehaibi 72′
Ambedkar Stadium, New Delhi Attendance: 13,000

Our hopes to qualify for 2018 World Cup are over. Recently we lost 3-0 to Oman and that was our fifth consecutive defeat in this qualifying campaign. For the uninitiated, such bad results are not new for our football team. 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign has also been disrupted because of ISL coinciding with the qualifiers. Let us hope that our team manage to win some upcoming home matches. Mean while, hoping that you enjoyed this compilation of the results from the past.

Guwahati FC raring to go in the 2nd Division I-League

October 16, 2015 footballnewsindia Leave a comment

Newly formed club appoints Subhash Bhowmick as Technical Director, will face Mohammedan Sporting in the first match

Guwahati, India: Newly formed Guwahati FC is raring to go as they prepare for the 2^nd Division I-League 2015-16. The club is aiming for promotion to the first tier of Indian football and is leaving no stone unturned in its quest. They have appointed legendary former Indian National player and Coach, Subhash Bhowmick as their Technical Director. Mr Bhowmick has previously managed top clubs such as East Bengal, Mohun Bagan, Churchill Brothers, Salgaocar among others. He comes on board as a mentor and guide and the team will benefit greatly from his vast experience.

Guwahati FC has also recently successfully held trials for its first team, with some top talent being recruited from top division clubs in India. They have announced the signing of top Assamese attacker, Durga Boro, who will bring a lot of quality to the first team. They will be announcing many more exciting signings in the days to come.

The club will face Mohammedan Sporting in their first match of the 2^nd Division I-League on 14^th November in Kolkata. The other teams in the Eastern Conference are Neroca FC, Himalayan Gangtok SC and Fateh Hyderabad FC. Three teams will qualify from the Conference for the main Group.

The club has recently tied up with Delhi-based Anglian Management Group (AMG) and Brazil’s Clube Atlético Paranaense (CAP) to set up the first international football Academy in North-East India based out of Guwahati. The Academy plans to train a hundred elite youth footballers from various age groups each of the next three years as well as run numerous programmes throughout the year aimed at attracting many more youth to the sport.To kick off their youth programs, they will be competing in the U-18 and U-15 I-League 2015-16 which will start in November.

Guwahati FC, which was formed at the end of 2014, aims to establish itself by developing local talent in partnership with AMG and CAP. The club intends to leverage AMG’s international connections and experiences managing football clubs in India and in Europe as well as CAP’s globally-renowned youth football programmes.

“We are looking forward to a great campaign in the 2^nd Division I-League and will definitely aim to qualify to the top tier. We will remain passionate and dedicated about the cause of building the sport of football in India from the bottom up, as evidenced by our setting up the Guwahati FC Youth Academy in partnership with Anglian Management Group and Clube Atlético Paranaense.” said Sanjive Narain Co-owner Guwahati FC.

Kerala Blasters – ISL Season II Preview

October 6, 2015 footballnewsindia Leave a comment

Kerala Blasters had an amazing first season, they exceeded all expectations by reaching the finals of first season. Blighted with ownership issues KBFC remained low key during the ISL auction but picked up some good players in the player draft. They have roped in an experienced Coach in Peter Taylor who will replace David James who was the marquee player/ manger last season. Trevor Morgan, former East Bengal coach remains as the assistant coach.

Blasters have recruited former Westham Goal Keeper Stephen Bywater, who will replace David James as the foreign keeper this season. Experienced custodian Sandip Nandy and Mohun Bagan goal Keeper Shilton Paul are the other goal keepers in the squad. Bywater will be the first choice keeper, otherwise we will see Sandip Nandy replacing him in the lineup.

Blasters have recruited former New Castle defender Peter Ramage who is expected to play a crucial role this season. Former Spanish International and World Cup winner Carlos Marchena (Marquee Player), Sandesh Jhinghan and Marcus Williams are the other stand out players in defense.

In the middle of the park, Blasters have a variety of options. Portuguese player Joao Coimbra and former Barca trained Josu is expected to start in the middle. CK Vineeth with his blistering pace could earn spot on the left. The other options in midfield are Cavin Lobo, Shankar, Mehtab Hussian Ishfaq Ahmed, Pulga and Peter Carvalho.

The real struggle for Blasters last season was scoring goals. They managed to score only 11 goals last season and out of that 5 were scored by Iain Hume who has then moved on to reigning champions ATK. Management seems to have put in a lot of thought to avoid the goal drought by signing some good talent upfront. The forward line-up of Chris Dagnall, former Arsenal man Sanchez Watt, Antonio German, Mohammed Rafi and Manandeep Singh, is quite a formidable one.

Blasters conceded only 11 goals last season, the lowest among all the teams. They will be looking to improve upon this record this season. With a great home support, Blasters could again be the surprise package of this season.

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Mohun Bagan to file a liquidation suit against United Spirits Limited.

Ruud Gullit to be Brand Ambassador

Corporates to bid for teams

Peter Shilton to announce KSL teams:

1998 World Cup :

21-Sep-96

8-Apr-01

18-Feb-04

2014 World Cup

Newly formed club appoints Subhash Bhowmick as Technical Director, will face Mohammedan Sporting in the first match