Sports – Football News India

Malabar Premier League – Facts and Figures

May 2, 2015 footballnewsindia Leave a comment

First edition of Malabar Premier League recently got concluded. MSP Delta Force emerged champions of the first season. Here are some facts and figures from the first edition of the tournament. The numbers and facts were sourced from various news reports that appeared about Malabar Premier League.

Facts and Figures

Earnings from ticket sales for the 1st edition of the tournament was around 7.5 lakhs. Where as the expenditure for running the league was around 75 lakhs.
The prize money for the 1st edition was 1 lakh and the runners-up bagged 50,000 INR. Semifinalists were rewarded with 25000 INR.
First edition of MPL gave opportunities for an array of players. MSP Delta Force team comprised mainly of MSP School students and other teams had many college students in their ranks too.
15 matches were played in the 1st edition and 55 goals were scored.
2nd edition of Malabar Premier League could see foreign players in action for teams.
MPL organizers are looking to get accreditation for the tournament from AIFF. If AIFF doesn’t recognize the tourney, foreigners cannot take part.
Second edition of MPL will also feature team from other districts in the Malabar region. First edition only featured teams from Malappuram

Malabar Premier League to kickoff on April 11

March 3, 2015 footballnewsindia Leave a comment

With the aim of providing a good platform for football players in Malappuram, district sports council and the district football association has joined hands to launch Malabar Premier league. The first edition of the league will kickoff on April 7 and will go on till April 30.

The logo and crest for the tournament was unveiled by minister Kunhalikutty in Malappuram yesterday. In attendance were the office bearers of district sports council and football association along with former Indian internationals Sharaf Ali, I.M Vijayan and Kurikesh Mathew.

Malabar Premier League which was conceived to provide much needed fillip for the sport in Malappuram, which is considered as the Mecca of football in Kerala, has got a nod from Kerala Football Association too.

The tournament will Kick off at the recently renovated Kottapady stadium. District Sports Council and the District Football Association will market and brand the league. Malappuram district would be divided in to eight zones and one team from each zone can participate in the league. Teams from each zone can selected players who are registered with KFA. Apart from the players from the district, teams can include players from other regions upon registering them for the tournament.

The onus of the league is provide a platform to perform for the players in the district and in-turn use the income from the league to prop up basic sports facilities in the district.

Libero Sports India finalists in Football Business Awards 2014

September 18, 2014 footballnewsindia Leave a comment

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.

Indian Football team may miss out on Asian Games 2014

August 26, 2014 footballnewsindia Leave a comment

Reports 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.

New Club on the block – Jaithra Kerala of SEPT!

May 5, 2014 footballnewsindia Leave a comment

Club Logo

We had earlier reported that Sports Education and Promotion Trust [SEPT], the Kerala based football academy will be unveiling their professional club on May 4th in Kozhikode. In a gala function that took place yesterday in Mananchira Maidhan, SEPT unveiled their professional club named Jaithra Kerala and the club logo.

SEPT, Jaithra Kerala, Football, Academy, Kerala, Soccer, Indianfootball, Sports, Kozhikode, Mananchira, Arun Nanu, India, Malabar

Club Launch

Jaithra Kerala will function under SEPT Sports and Entertainment Pvt Ltd. The club is aiming for an I-league slot in the next four years. The current trend in Kerala football is forming clubs with active particpation of communities. SEPT is also duly following the model. SEPT is rolling out membership and has manged to rake in a good number of supporters for their effort. It is being reported that anyone can secure a membership by paying INR 1800.

SEPT has drafted in players from their U-17 academy for the club. With over 50 active football coaching centers across the Kerala, SEPT is planning to use these centers as the catchment area to select footballers to the club. It is also said that talented players outside the centers would also be drafted into the club through a selection process.

In the 10th year of existence, the formation of a professional club is a massive step forward for SEPT. By this SEPT also becomes the first football academy in Kerala to graduate to a full professional set up. Their vast experience is training and coaching youngsters across the state would hold in good stead for their progress. SEPT players are the main stay of all the age group teams from Kerala and around five SEPT players have represented Indian age group teams. SEPT is also planning to commence operations of two residential academies in Kerala.

Here is the Facebook Page of Jaithra Kerala, Go ahead and Like them!

Post by Jaithra Kerala.

Kerala based SEPT to unveil Professional Football Club on May 4th

April 23, 2014 footballnewsindia Leave a comment

We had earlier reported that Kerala based Sports Education and Promotion Trust [SEPT] will be launching a professional football club. It is official that SEPT will be unveiling their professional football club on May 4th in Kozhikode.

In 2013 Social Media brings fans even more closer to the Sport

December 26, 2013 footballnewsindia Leave a comment

We have been hearing about social media, the role it supposedly played in protests, revolutions and some times even in regime changes. But what happens in sports, especially in India? While all the international sporting events do trend on Social Media, here in India with the surge of smart phones, a quiet revolution is taking place.

Social media has helped the enthusiast to be closer to the action. For instance take football, we are at point where we could track state league matches happening in Mizoram or Arunachal and at the same time listen to some quirky over the top rumors of foreign players that are going to play in the I-league.

The only struggle is to the be in the right network. And If you are in, bits and pieces of information, multimedia in pictures and even videos would dot your timeline. And that is how the unfortunate gallery collapse video from Bekal, Kerala went viral world wide.

On 15th December before a seven a side match, the gallery collapsed. There were innumerable people filming a small kid juggling football on the ground and there the gallery sunk in like a houdini act taking down 100s of people. Within hours the video was up on youtube being watched and shared by many. Eventually we saw it appear on Telegraph.co.uk!

Pictures, score updates, posters of upcoming matches, almost everything that you need is on social media today when it comes to football. There are also Clubs, players, administrators and media on social media who intervenes in the streams of conversation on sports.

The sports educationists are in there too. Academies, schools, Training camps, all of them are using social media to engage and publicize their efforts.

There are lively communities and discussion boards where not so gracious people fight over and also have meaningful discussion on the sport. There are #hashtags that you can follow to stay updated on sports. For football in India, #Indianfootball and #ileague offers constant stream of information.

The real attraction is also about getting to know the sport in your backyard. A Seven-a-side football fan from Kerala can stay updated himself through scores, pictures and videos on the go. Sporting attractions which were largely local and not in the mainstream gets more traction through social media, there by increasing the interest of people.

Social actions such as crowd funding and crowd sourcing could be a good way forward for sports in India. The recent example of Winter Olympian Shiva Keshavan is a move in that direction. Mobile data and applications such as Whatsapp and other messengers are also helping the fans and supporters to engage real time.

While we mainly track football we have also come across fan pages and twitter profiles for other sports too. Social media is forging a new way in India for sports, it has changed the way enthusiasts enjoy their sport.

Star Network to invest 20,000 Crore in India to boost sports coverage

November 6, 2013 footballnewsindia Leave a comment

Star Network will rename and re-brand its channels in India from today. As part of re-branding, ESPN will cease to exist in India. ESPN channel will now be Star Sports 4 and ESPN HD will be Star Sports HD2.

On this occasion it was also revealed that Star Sports will invest over 20,000 crore to improve sports coverage in the nation.

“Star has made a commitment of more than Rs 20,000 crore into the sports business. The investment is being used to fuel expansion of sports coverage in the country and to build exciting new leagues, including the Indian Super League in football, the Hockey India League and the Indian Badminton League,” Star Network said in a statement.