Kochi – Football News India

From the Street to Santosh trophy – Inspiring Story of Bibin Ajayan, Jharkhand’s Santosh Trophy player

February 9, 2016 footballnewsindia Leave a comment

When Bibin’s mother Vasantha left their home, with her toddlers after persistent harassment from her husband, she would have never imagined what lay in store for her son, Bibin.

Her misery did not end after leaving home either – She was brutally attacked by some people on the street in Kochi in June 2006 and was shifted to a near-by hospital. She left her four kids including Bibin in Janaseva Sisubahavan in Aluva, a care-home for street children.

Bibin learned the basics of football from the Janaseva sports academy under the guidance of former Kerala Santosh trophy player Soly Xavier. He then went on to captain Ernakulam district team and then the Kerala state team. In 2014, Bibin was selected to the SAIL football academy in Bokaro. Since then he has been training with the academy in Jharkhand.

Now, his talent has been recognized and is being rewarded as he got selected to represent Jharkhand in the 2016 Santosh Trophy East Zone qualifiers taking place in Kolkata. Bibin is only 17 and is probably one of the youngest players ever to play in Santosh Trophy. He has a long career ahead and we wish him all the best!

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.

FIFA Team Inspects Kochi JN Stadium and Training Grounds for 2017 U-17 World Cup

December 11, 2014 footballnewsindia Leave a comment

Mr.Constantin Weiland FIFA Official along with AIFF officials Mr.Javier Ceppi , Mr.Shaji Prabhakar, Mr.Vijay Parthasaradhy, Ms.Roma Khanna conducted Inspection at JNI Stadium, Kaloor today in the presence of KFA President KMI Mather and General Secretary Anilkumar P. The team checked the infra structure and facilities at the Stadium. They have also visited the proposed training venues at KUFOS Ground, Fort Kochi Veli Ground, Govt: Boys Higher Secondary School Ground, Panampilly Nagar and Maharajas College Ground in the morning.

“As the Stadium is made of Natural Turf the training grounds also must be of the same “, the team conveyed to Mr. Mather. They will be sharing the report within another few days. The team left for Bombay by evening, expressing their hope to furnish the training grounds and the Stadium renovation work up to the FIFA standards within the time frame.

An article in Deccan Chronicle about the visit throws more insight. FIFA stipulates having four training grounds in a World Cup hosting city. Javier Ceppi the tournament director appointed by AIFF was quoted in DC saying :

2017, FIFA, U-17, World Cup, India, Football, Soccer

Not official logo. FNI interpretation

“We need four training grounds that is the minimum. The grounds have to be ten times better than the current pitch”

He also emphasized on the need of bucket seats in the stadium for it to qualify for hosting the 2017 U-17 World cup. The second tier in Kochi JN stadium currently don’t have bucket seats installed.

It is also mentioned in the report that a confirmation on whether Kochi will be hosting the tournament would be available by January 2015.

With Kochi registering an average crowd of 47000 for ISL, the city has gathered attention from the authorities in terms of attracting crowd. If our local authorities wake up and work towards this goal, we will see Kochi hosting 2017 U-17 World Cup.

With inputs from KFA press-release

Bad day in the media for Indian Super League?

September 15, 2014 footballnewsindia Leave a comment

Indian Super League had a bad field day in the press yesterday.

A news piece that appeared on Livemint did not cut a good picture.

The article talks about IMG-R and Star’s difficulty in finding suitable associate sponsors for the league. Indian Super league had earlier announced Hero MotoCorp Ltd as the title sponsor. It was also mentioned that team sponsorships were equally hard to come by. Average advert rates for the front of the players’ jersey is Rs.5 crore, the back costs Rs.3 crore and each sleeve is priced at Rs.1-1.5 crore according to the article.

The second one should concern the franchise owners. An article in www.afaqs.com talks about how the franchise owners might suffer because unlike IPL in which a Dollar-Rupee ratio cap is existing, ISL has no such measures. The article claims that exchange rate fluctuations could result in 10% variation in the pay outs for foreign players and thereby escalating costs for the franchises. Such financial strain for franchises in the very early stages of the league might not bode well for its future. Read the article here.

Well, before this is wound up it has to be mentioned that Indian Super League sort of papered over all these cracks by the end of the day when the signing of former French International Nicolas Anelka was announced by the Mumbai franchise.

Kerala Plans to Conduct the AFC Grassroots Day in a Grand Way

May 14, 2014 footballnewsindia Leave a comment

Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is celebrating the 2nd ‘AFC Grassroots Day’ on the 15 May, 2014 . The purpose and objective of the celebration is to ensure awareness of the necessity of Grassroots activities with a vision for tomorrow with effective foundation of football.

Reports suggest that around 480 kids aged between 6 and 12 will participate in football festivals conducted across 7 centers in Kerala. In Thiruvanthapuram, the festival will be conducted in Kovalam and it is expected that Kovalam FC will be playing a major role in the festival there. Kollam District Football Academy, Alappuzha Santos FA, Unity Soccer in Idukki, Maradu FA in Ernakulam, Nilambur United FC in Malappuram, Wayanad United F.A are the other centers that will be hosting the festival in Kerala.

Update : Two more venues will be hosting the AFC Grassroots day today in Kerala. In kozhikode, the Calicut Coaches Club along with KDFA will be conducting a football festival. It also reported that a similar fest will take place in Pathanamthitta too.

Third Edition of O Jogo Bonito (OJB) Country’s Biggest Amateur Football League

March 6, 2014 footballnewsindia Leave a comment

O Jogo Bonito aka OJB is India’s biggest amateur football league promoted by Bulldog Sports Ventures. Football tournaments are conducted every quarter in a calendar year. The players of this tourney comprise of working professionals, students, businessmen who are united for the common cause of football.

After two successful seasons of OJBm the third edition took place in the last week of February 2014. It was bigger than ever with close to 180 registered players 12 teams battling it out for glory in the “Flood Lit Stadium” experience .

Here are few pictures from the tournament that took place in Kochi.

Federation Cup 2013-14 – Kochi & Manjeri – Fixtures

December 17, 2013 footballnewsindia Leave a comment

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.

Group A [JNStadium, Kochi] :

[matches league_id=6 Group=A]

Group B [MDS Complex, Manjeri] :

[matches league_id=6 Group=B]

Group C [JNStadium, Kochi] :

[matches league_id=6 Group=C]

Group D [MDS Complex, Manjeri] :

[matches league_id=6 Group=D]

Kochi and Manjeri to host Federation Cup 2014

December 13, 2013 footballnewsindia Leave a comment

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

Three new teams and a new logo for Federation Cup

October 28, 2013 footballnewsindia Leave a comment

AIFF released a new logo for the upcoming Federation Cup that will be hosted in Kerala.

United Sikkim replaces Mumbai Tigers in Group D, and the third and fourth placed Teams of last year’s I-league 2nd division – Bhowanipore FC and Langnsing FC will join United Sikkim in Group D.

Stanley Rozario appointed as Eagles FC Coach

October 7, 2013 footballnewsindia Leave a comment

Mr.Stanley Rozario, Former Indian Football Team Assistant Coach appointed Head Coach of EAGLES FC KERALA

Image Courtesy : goal.com

EAGLES FC KERALA has appointed Mr. Stanley Rozario as their Head Coach.Mr. Rozario began his coaching career as Coach of Services FC, the football team of Indian Army where he continued from 1994 – 2007. He served as the Assistant Coach of the Indian National Football Team from 2005 – 2008covering AFC Cup, SAAF Cup, Olympic Qualifying Matches, Asian Games and several Friendly Matches.

In 2010, Mr. Rozario entered I League Coaching becoming the Coach of United Sikkim Football Club followed by stints with Mohan Bagan, Shillong Lajong, Salgaocar and East Bengal.

Mr. Rozario is one of fourteen Indian Coaches who completed Module I of the FIFA Pro Licence Course which was held for the first time in India in July2013 conducted by India Team Coach Mr. Wim Koervermans and AIFF Technical Director Mr. Robert Baan in Mumbai. He is an AFC A CoachingAward Holder along with FIFA Futuro III Coaching Award.

“Eagles FC Kerala is extremely happy to welcome Mr. Stanley Rozario as the Head Coach of Eagles FC Kerala Team. His experience will help the team prepare for possible direct entry into I League next year for which our application is pending with AIFF. Mr. Rozario has a great track record and we look forward to him taking Eagles FC Kerala to greater heights.” said Mr.Siddeek Ahmed, Director, Eagles FC Kerala and Chairman & Managing Director, ERAM Group.

“I am very excited about the opportunity with Eagles FC Kerala. It is an honour to coach in Kerala which has one of the finest fan base for football in India. I am also looking forward to support the grass root football development plan of Eagles FC Kerala being implemented in association with KFA.” said Mr. Stanley Rozario, Head Coach, Eagles FC Kerala.

Eagles FC Kerala has also appointed Mr. Milton Antony as the Assistant Coach. Milton holds AFC B Coaching Award. He is ex Indian Navy and has represented India in Asian Youth Championship and was also member of the Under 21 Kerala Team who won National Championship in 1995. Mr. Renjith T A with AFC C Coaching Award will assist Mr. Stanley Rozario and Mr. Milton Antony.

Eagles FC Kerala has also strengthened the Medical and Physio Support Team under the noted Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Biju Pankapilly, MD & MS in Orthopedics. Dr. Pankapilly has completed his special fellowship at Cliniquede l’Union, Toulouse, France under the guidance of world famous Surgeon Dr.Jean Kany. Dr. Thomas Cherian, MPT with specialization in Sport Medicine shall be the Head Physio for the Team who will be assisted by Dr. Arun Kumar,BPT, Dr. M S Anish Kumar, BPT and Dr. Shani Hameed, BPT, MHSC.

Source : Eagles FC Press release.

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