Nothing but football.
International Management Group (IMG) the global sports, entertainment and fashion agency has sold off to competitors William Morris Endeavor (WME) and their financial backer Silver Lake Partners.
IMG – Reliance the Indian version of the management agency caused a stir among the Indian football fans with the now postponed Indian Super League. We will have to wait and see what beholds the Indian Super League now.
An I-league panel after evaluating the Referees’ and Match Commissioner’s reports has decided to fine Bengaluru FC INR 20000.
Reports say that a repetition of crowd trouble in the upcoming matches means doubling the fine amount.
East Bengal goal keeper Gurpreet Sandhu was showered with bottles and other items during Bengaluru FC’s last home match.
Federation Cup 2013-14 comes to kerala. Kochi and Manjeri will host the matches. Teams are divided in to four groups – A,B,C &D.
Group A & C matches will take place in Kochi and Group B & D matches at Manjeri.
Football fans in Malappuram has been waiting for ever for a top level tournament to take place in the district. They will be duly rewarded when they get to see top I-league teams and a host of other teams looking to get promoted to the top tier of the country playing.
The semi-finals and finals of Federation Cup 2013-14 will take place in Kochi. Eagles FC is the only Kerala out fit in the competition.
[matches league_id=6 Group=A]
[matches league_id=6 Group=B]
[matches league_id=6 Group=C]
[matches league_id=6 Group=D]
Nethaji Sports Club one of the oldest clubs in Chennai have a new owner in Rohit Ramesh. 27 year old Rohit bought over the club from one of the stalwarts of Chennai football, Mr. T. R. Govindarajan.
The club established in 1946 was steered by Govindarajan till date. Due to the lack of sponsorship and other resources the club was relegated from the senior division 3 years ago.
In the event of this take over, Football News India caught up with Rohit to ask about his plans for the club. Rohit emphasized that his immediate concern is to get the club on track and play well in the Chennai League which starts off in February. He also pointed out that they are looking for international age-group tournaments where Nethaji Club could participate.
As of now team’s 18 players have been retained and the club is scouting to add four of five more players to their roster to strengthen. Rohit told The Hindu – “So our major perspective is to change Indian football. Especially in Tamil Nadu, as there is no team from here in the I-league. And football is growing and I think we are ‘in’ at the right time,”
Bringing joy to all football fans in Malappuram, AIFF has confirmed that Federation Cup 2014 will be played in Kochi and Manjeri starting from January 14th. Sixteen teams divided in to four groups will battle it out in the competition.
With the withdrawal of Lansing FC, the hosts Kerala will be represented by Eagles FC Kochi.
The venues are as follows:
Group A and Group C: Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Cochin
Group B and Group D: MDS Complex, Manjeri
Semifinals and Final: Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Cochin
Ashley Westwood
According to Teamtalk.com Bengaluru FC’s Ashley Westwood has been linked with coaching positions at Crawley FC and Bury FC. However Ashley Westwood has gone on record saying that he is concentrating on Bengaluru FC as of now.
The I-league table topper’s manager said to teamtalk.com –
“Of course in the future I will return to Europe and its nice to be recognised for your work. However I’m just focusing on the next game for Bangaluru,” he said.
“The last three months have involved early starts and long days but when you see the lads react to the information you give them then it’s very rewarding. We’ve got a long way to go yet.”
Rumors are rife that another I-league could be shutting shop soon. After the chit fund scandal in West Bengal, United SC has been struggling to find sponsors after their last season sponsor Prayag abandoned them. Ironically United SC were one of the clubs that spent massively on their squad last season.
Club officials have been trying to rope in a sponsor for the club from the starting of this season with no success. “It’s not possible to run a club solely on borrowed money. It’s getting difficult each passing day. We want to keep hoping for the best instead of throwing in the towel. But nothing positive seems to be happening.” “If things carry on in this manner, we’ll have to give up,” club secretary Alokesh Kundu told Telegraph.
While I-league seems to be very competitive this time around with quality foreigners and better managed teams, it has to be noted that there is still not much of money in play. Clubs still find it difficult to find sponsors and the large outlay required to field a team in the national league is not helping their cause.
Read the article from Telegraph which speculates on United SC’s future here.
Check out the screaming goal that sealed the Kolkata Derby. Lalrindika Ralte recieves the ball, sets it up and launches a sweet strike that dips in to the net. It was sheer brilliance.
Former India and International and Kerala player N.P Pradeep has joined Mumbai FC on loan. By this Mumbai FC becomes the third team in I-League to sign players attached to IMG – Reliance League.
Pradeep comes with loads of experience in Indian Football circuit. From 2000 onwards, Pradeep has appeared for various clubs such as Mahindra, Viva Kerala, Mohun Bagan and lately signed for Dodsal FC which was later renamed to Mumbai Tigers.
Pradeep also has 50 international caps for India and featured heavily in the national team during Bob Houghton era. With Mumbai Tigers pulling out from I-league, Pradeep had inked deal with IMG- Reliance for their upcoming IPL Style league.
With IMG – Reliance League getting postponed, Mumbai FC has taken the plunge to sign the midfielder that will add a lot of experience to their current I-league squad. So far, Rangdajied United, Mohammedan Sporting and Mumbai FC has signed players contracted with IMG – Reliance.
SAP has made its foray in to sports in a big manner with the announcement of the SAP HANA system. SAP HANA an in-memory database, analytics, mobile software combined with other technologies can help teams to gauge performance of their players, collect real time data and do much.
SAP has already taken a dive in to this vertical as they have already signed up NBA in this regard. SAPA HANA system offer teams a scouting platform, it can grab media and data from social sites and thereby gauging fan sentiments and could over all improve the experience of spectators in the stadium.
German Bundesliga outfit TSG 1899 Hoffenheim is using the latest technology offered by SAP. Where trainers use Google Glass in combination with this technology to gauge player performances.
Video of Hoffenheim using SAP HANA technology :
AIFF has published an article about representatives participating in the recently concluded SAP Forum for Sports and Entertainment in Germany. SAP India Managing Director Anirban Dey told AIFF – “SAP believes that this can also be leveraged by the I-League clubs,”
AIrtel I-league CEO Sunandho Dhar said that a Pilot Project is being chalked out between SAP India and Airtel I-league. “We are trying to work out a deal with SAP India on whether the technology can be brought to India, if not on the same scale but parts of it. A Pilot Project may be in the offing.” said Sunandho Dhar to AIFF Media.