Category: International

Ronnie Screwvala’s UniLazer Ventures and Bundesliga’s TSG 1899 Hoffenheim to launch Football Academies

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TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, Football, India, Unilazer ventures, Ronnie Screwala, Football, Grassroots, Academy, BundesligaAccording to a report in bundesliga.com TSG 1899 Hoffenheim have struck a deal with bollywood producer Ronnie Screwvala’s UniLazer Ventures to provide support for football promotion among children in India.

This initiative will begin with talent scouting at over 1000 schools across 50 cities in India says the report. Half a million children are expected to be part of this exercise. 30 selected students will get an opporutnity to travel to Germany and train with Hoffenheim. As part of this deal, Hoffenheim will help training coaches in india as well.

“TSG are the ideal partners to approach and realise these goals on a long-term basis,”. “This type of co-operation – to develop children and young players – fits perfectly with our philosophy. We can learn a lot from one another, both on and off the pitch.” said Thomas Richter, Hoffenheim’s director of sales, communication and internationalisation to bundesliga.com

There were rumors about Unilazer ventures foraying into football but nothing concrete came up. However, earlier this year Ronnie Screwvala’s firm invested in pro-kabbadi tournament and owns the Mumbai franchise Umumba in the tournament. This tie up with Hoffenheim would be Unilazer’s first attempt to foray into the bustling football scene in India.

Bengaluru FC’s Ashley Westwood interested in national team job

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Image Courtesy : http://i-league.org

Image Courtesy : http://i-league.org

According to a report in Gulf News, Bengaluru FC coach Ashley Westwood has expressed interest in taking up the coaching role of Indian national team. All India Football Federation has to scout for a new manager for the national team after the current coach Wim Koevermans recently stepped down.

Ashely Westwood guided Bengaluru FC to last season’s I-league title. This was a remarkable achievement since it was Bengaluru FC’s debut appearance in India’s top tier league. Previously he has donned the role of assistant coach at English clubs; Portsmouth, Blackpool and Blackburn Rovers.

“If they think I’m good enough then obviously they would have to approach the club, but I don’t really know how that works, I’m just interested in doing a good job for whoever that would be. I’ve studied the opposition throughout India and watched a lot of football and I’ve watched it for a purpose and I’m learning all the time. That’s what I want to keep doing, I want to keep learning and striving and bettering myself, said Ashley Westwood to Gulf News.

Read more : Westwood interested in vacant India job

Wim era ends as Palestine defeats India

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India, Palestine, Football, Soccer, FIFA, Friendly, October, West Bengal, Kanchenjunga, Siliguri, InternationalPalestine, the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup Champions beat India 3-2 in a friendly match that was played at the  Kanchenjunga stadium in Siliguri, on Monday evening. India were leading the match 2-1 at the half time.

India conceded as early as the 8th minute in the match. However Sunil Chhetri and Francis Fernandes scored apiece in the first half as India finished on top. The second half saw Palestine strongly coming back into the match and scoring two goals. Eventually India had to settle with a defeat in the friendly.

As yet another international friendly went by without telecast, fans were very vocal on social media about their displeasure.

Notable was also the complete silence from the ISL media team and the social media channels of ISL teams. Completely oblivious about the match, social media channels of ISL teams went about sharing totally irrelevant content. While this is not a big surprise for us, ISL which claims to take Indian football to another level omitting the national team’s friendly certainly does not bode well for the sport in India. All India Football Federation’s social media channels that used to be very active recently was also missing in action today.

This friendly against Palestine also marked the end of the Dutch coach Wim Koeverman’s stint as the national team’s manager. In the post match presentation ceremony Wim Koevermans confirmed that he is going to step down.

“This was my last match as the coach of the national team and I will not be taking up the post of AIFF’s Technical Director for private reasons,” said the Dutch coach.

German Coach for Indian National Team?

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Germany, Football, DFB, FA, India, U-17, FIFA World Cup, Wim Koevermans, Asian Games, National Team, Technical Director, Markus WeidnerAccording to a report in Hindustan times, AIFF has sought help from DFB (German national football federation) to share knowledge in areas such as coach education and player’s development. The German FA is willing to help India as well.

Markus Weidner, the head of coach education and international relations, DFB is quoted in Hindustan times, “The AIFF recently asked us to share our knowledge, especially within the technical fields such as coach education, players’ development, etc. The DFB (German national football federation) is willing to assist the AIFF,”.

For AIFF, the priority is to find a coach for the India U-17 team which will taking part in the 2017 World Cup taking place in India. The article also reports that AIFF will seek help from DFB for replacing the current national team coach Wim Koevermans, whose contract expires on October 31.
Earlier media reports suggested that Wim Koevermans will be appointed as the Technical Director of national team once Rob Baan’s stint ends by Dec 31. This article speculates that there would be a change in this plan after India’s pathetic show at the Asian Games.

Squad for Palestine friendlies announced

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India, Palestine, Football, Soccer, FIFA, Friendly, October, West Bengal, Kanchenjunga, Siliguri, InternationalWim Koevermans has announced a squad of 20 for the upcoming friendlies with AFC Challenge Cup Champions Palestine. Both the matches will take place at the Kanchenjunga Stadium in Siliguri, West Bengal on October 6 and 9 respectively.

FIFA Ranks  : India – 158, Palestine : 102 [As of Sep 2014]

Palestine football team recently had a setback in their preparations for the upcoming Asian Cup when their coach Jamal Mahmoud resigned citing personal reasons.

Pritam Kotwal of Mohun Bagan is the sole debutant in the 20 member team. Lalkamal Bhowmick, the Mohun Bagan midfielder and Pune FC’s Arata Izumi will make a comeback to the national team.

Squad :

GOALKEEPERS: Subrata Paul, Karanjit Singh, Amrinder Singh.

DEFENDERS: Denzil Franco, Pritam Kotal, Arnab Mondal, Raju Gaikwad, Sandesh Jhinghan, Aiborlang Khongjee, Narayan Das.

MIDFIELDERS: Mehtab Hossain, Lenny Rodrigues, Arata Izumi, Lalkamal Bhowmick, Francis Fernandes, Clifford Miranda, Victorino Fernandes.

FORWARDS: Sunil Chhetri, Robin Singh, Balwant Singh.

STANDBYES: Shilton Paul, Arindam Bhattacharya, Rowilson Rodrigues, Gabriel Fernandes, Seminlen Doungel, Siam Hanghal, Lalrindika Ralte, Thongkhosem Haokip.

Libero Sports India finalists in Football Business Awards 2014

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Libero Sports, Football, Soccer, Football Business Awards, 2014, Business, Awards Libero Sports India Private Limited will become first ever business firm from India to get selected as a finalist for the  annual Football Business Awards.

Libero Sports, a football advisory and player representation firm from India is nominated under the Best Business Serving Football – up to £2m turnover (non professional service) category in the 2014 awards.

Football Business Awards instituted in 2012 is an annual networking and recognition platform involving various partners operating across the globe. The 2014 panel of judges include Kevin Keegan OBE (Former Player and Manager. Football Broadcaster) Alistair Mackintosh
(CEO, Fulham FC), Kenny MacLeod (Commercial Director, Scottish FA) among others.

This is a massive achievement for Libero Sports which was formed in 2010. It has grown considerably by involving in strategic consulting and other areas related to football in India and abroad.

AIFF tying up with Brazilian club, Atletico Paranaense

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Atletico Paranaense, Brazil, India, AIFF, FIFA, U-17, World Cup, 2017, AIFF, Kushal Das, BrazilAccording a PTI report, All India Football Federation is tying up the with Brazilian club, Atletico Paranaense keeping in mind the 2017 Under-17 World Cup that is slated to take place in the country.

Kushal Das, General Secretary, AIFF was quoted as saying  “To give exposure to the players, AIFF is tying up with Brazilian team, for an exchange program of the U-17 team,”

The other points that has got a mention in the report are FIFA’s visit to India in November to inspect stadiums for 2017 U-17 World cup,  the viability of football as a profession and the need for state associations being agile for the development at grass root level. Kerala and Mizoram were picked out and mentioned by  the General Secretary on the last aspect.

Apart from the usual backing up of ISL from the federation, Kushal Das has mentioned the importance of connecting to the fans through regional languages. Star Sports will be broadcasting the new league in 5 languages – Hindi, English, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada.

Santosh Trophy also gets a surprise mention. Apparently there are plans to telecast Santosh Trophy matches as well.

Read the report here.

Asian Games 2014 : Men’s Football Schedule

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After all the uncertainty, Indian Football team will start their 2014 Asian Games 2014 sojourn on September 15th, when they take on a formidable opposition in UAE.  India is grouped along UAE and Jordan in Group G and their matches take place at the Hwaseong Stadium and the Incheon Munhak Stadium. Two teams will qualify to the round 16 from the group.

India, Football, Asian Games, 2014, UAE, Jordan, Group G, Indianfootball, Mens, Incheon

Indian Football team may miss out on Asian Games 2014

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Asian Games, Football, India, Indianfootball, team, south koreaReports are surfacing that the Indian football team may miss out on participating in the upcoming Incheon Asian games 2014. With Indian Olympic Association submitting a bumper list of 900 people including athletes and officials, to the sports ministry for approval for travelling to the Sept. 19-Oct. 4 Games in the South Korean city of Incheon, sports ministry would be forced to prune the list.  

Lacklustre performance against Pakistan in the recently friendlies have also not helped the team’s chances. SAI director Jiji Thomson was in attendance at the Bangalore stadium when the Indian team comprising  mainly under-23 players took on the Pakistan team.  

Jiji Thomoson was quoted in Times of India saying  :

“I am a football fan and I was present at the match. I can only say that the performance was very disappointing,”

If the team is not cleared by the ministry, All India Football Federation would be forced to pay from their pockets to send the team for Asian games 2014. In an article in The Telegraph a senior official is quoted that the government will not bear the cost of the men’s and women’s football teams in the Asian Games 2014.

“A final decision would only be taken after a week, but there is every chance the government would not bear the cost of the men’s and women’s football teams in the Asian Games. Of course, the AIFF (All India Football Federation) can send the team on their own,” 

However this is not the first time that the football team is being forced out of Asian Games by government. In 1990 and 1994 the government had stopped the football team from going for the Asian Games.

Indian Super League partners with English Premier League

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ISL, Indian Super League, EPL, England, Premier League, Clubs, Richard Scudamore, Britain, Nita Ambani, Reliance, IMG, India, LeagueAccording to a report in PTI today, the upcoming Indian Super League has has entered into a strategic partnership with the English Premier League, the world’s most popular and successful football league, to bring its best practices to India under an exchange programme. 

Through the alliance, Indian Super League will help Premier League and its clubs in staging football matches and assist in other business development initiatives in India.

Here are a few excerpts from the PTI report :

Richard Scudamore, chief executive of the Premier League, said, “Having earlier this year signed a mutual co-operation agreement with the Asian Football Confederation, we are very pleased to also enter into this partnership with ISL. This will see both organisations work together and share knowledge in several key areas including player development, refereeing, marketing and promotion. 

“We know from our broadcast partner Star India, and our work with AIFF on our long-established grassroots football project Premier Skills that we run in several locations across India, that the popularity of football, and Premier League, is growing. There is a further opportunity to develop the sport as a result of that increased interest and we hope to continue to make a real contribution to all levels of Indian football.” 

IMG-Reliance chairperson Nita Ambani said, “Partnering with Premier League brings credence to ISL and to our vision of popularizing the sport in India. I am confident the tie-up will immensely help in nurturing and establishing ISL with good governance and best practices. The alliance also presents a great opportunity of partnership and cross promotions between the ISL League Partners and Premier League Clubs.” 

Jeff Slack, senior vice-president, IMG, Global Football Development, said, “The ability to leverage the Premier League’s experience in creating a successful league model for both players and fans will be a tremendous value to the Indian Super League as it continues to grow the sport in India.” 

Uday Shankar, CEO, Star India said, “The partnership puts belief in our Star’s sports philosophy ‘Believe’. From a game that hobbled about on the fringes of Indian sports, there’s promise that this partnership will lift and reinvigorate football. Through this tie-up, Star India will cross promote coverage of ISL and Premier League to the growing base of Indian football followers.” 

AIFF president Praful Patel said, “The AIFF is extremely pleased to be a part of the strategic partnership between the EPL and ISL. This is an outstanding opportunity for ISL to build from the very best in the business when it comes to running a highly successful league.”

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