Nothing but football.
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Tainted and exiled former IPL chariman – Lalit Modi turns his attention to football now. Lalit Modi was recently banned from BCCI. According to a report in The Indian Express, Modi has had Initial discussion with AIFF president about starting a IPL style league.
Read More : Lalit Modi may now dabble in IPL-style football league
Image Courtesy : AIFF Media
The Indian U-16 team put up a very good show against Lebanon by defeating them 4-1 at the Ali Sabah Al-Salem Stadium in Kuwait.
India went ahead in the 9th minute when Nuruddin fly past 30 yard screamer in to the Lebanon goal. India had to wait till the dying moments of the first half to score again through Jayananda Singh.
In the second half of the match, Lebanon through Ali Kharoubi made it 2-1. From then on India mounted pressure and scored two goals in succession. Anirudh Thapa in the 61st minute and Bedashwor Singh in the 65th minute making it 4-1 in favor of India.
India went on to play some eye-catching football then on, but failed to increase the score line. This may work against us in terms of qualification. However, India can take heart about the performance and the talented youngsters at our disposal.
Due credits to coach Goutam Ghosh as well, under whom the India U16 team won the SAFF cup earlier this year and is now making good progress.
India will play Bhutan on 27th September.
Goals : India – Nuruddin – 9′, Jayananda Singh – 43′, Anirudh Thapa – 61′, Bedashwor Singh – 65′
Lebanon : Ali Kharoubi – 58th
INDIA: Dheeraj Singh (Goalkeeper), Amey Ranawade, Jayananda Singh, Amit Tudu, Jerry Lalrinzuala; Kharlukhi (Deependra Singh Negi – 46th) (Bodo Baoringdao (86th), Prosenjit Chakraborty, Anirudh Thapa, Nuruddin (Krishna Pandit — 90th), Nijwm Muchahary, Bedashwor Singh (Captain).
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In 2007 Sepp Blatter, FIFA president said India is a “sleeping giant” when it comes to football. Football is constantly growing and marketing avenues related to football is seeing exponential growth these days in India.
Brands are scampering to associate with football to advertise their products. Of the lot alcohol companies seems to reaping the biggest reward. And beer undoubtedly seems to be the winner among the alcoholic beverages when it comes to football . With increasing European football screenings in Indian metro’s, pubs and sports bars are selling more beer than ever before.
Here is an interesting article that appeared in today’s Economic times are about the beer-boom in India because of football : Will football be to beer what cricket has been for the colas?
Kerala team.
Pic Courtesy : Kerala Coach Purushothaman Thekkathara T G’s facebook profile.
Kerala has been in fine form at the ongoing Junior National Football Championship at Jharkhand. In their last match in Group D, Kerala edged Arunachal Pradesh by a solitary goal. Captain Anatha Murali scored the lone goal against Arunachal Pradesh in the 71st minute of the match. Earlier Kerala had defeated Jammu & Kashmir and Rajsathan in Group D.
According to reports Kerala will take on Chandigarh in the semifinal of Tier I that will take place on 26th September. Chandigarh from Group B has also been in good form. Chandigarh defeated Gujarat, Sikkim and Tripura to secure their place in semifinal.
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Joaquim Abranches will earn the distinction of being the only Indian player to have played two AFC Cup Semi finals, as East Bengal appears in this year’s AFC Cup semi final.
Abrnaches appeared in the semi final of AFC Cup earlier with Dempo in 2008.
Here is a nice article on how Armando Colaco who discovered Joaquim Abrnaches is excited about his protege : Colaco smiles in Abranches’ moment of glory
Football seems to catching up not only on the field but off field too in India. The much awaited FIFA 14 will be launched at midnight across ten cities in India on 27th September.
Read more to find out details of the outlets where you can grab your copy of FIFA 14 : Milestone Announces FIFA 14 Midnight Launches Across Ten Cities in India
The overwhelmingly efficient and financially sound Kerala Cricket Association is wanting to lease major stadiums in Kerala. In a request to Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA), KCA had expressed interest to least out Kochi Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium for 30 years.
However, their interest to lease out the stadium for another 30 years has been annulled for the time being by the executive committee of GCDA. If reports in Malayalam media are anything to go by, there was a stiff resistance from members in the executive committee of GCDA against this move.
GCDA decided not to take the request forward and reports suggest that GCDA would review KCA’s request once the current lease tenure is over. KCA has currently leased out the stadium till 2015. They inked a 
deal with GCDA in 2010, on an agreement that they will pay 10 lakhs per year for the total control of the stadium.
Reports also suggest that Kerala may host the 2014 Nehru Cup and Kochi would be the only suitable venue for the competition in Kerala. Earlier this year, when Santosh Trophy took place in Kerala, the conflict of interest between KCA and Kerala Football Association had reared its ugly head. It was amicably resolved and Santosh Trophy was held in the stadium.
Cricket Associations of other states in India have their exclusive stadiums. While in Kerala, KCA’s pursuit of a cricket only stadium has met with numerous road blocks. Earlier this year KCA had expressed interest to lease out Kozhikode Corporation stadium which resulted in a lot of opposition from other sports associations and the football crazy crowd in Kozhikode.
We at Football News India believe that no city in Kerala should lease out stadiums to a particular sporting body as it could create monopolistic practices that would eventually be detrimental to other sports. We are hoping that GCDA would not ink a deal to lease out the stadium to KCA for 30 years.
Update : A report in Malayala Manorama dated 25th September reports that GCDA is planning to open a Facebook page and conduct a poll among the public seeking their opinion on handing over the stadium to KCA for 30 years.
Supposedly club members affiliated to KSFA, officers of KSFA and BDFA could not enter the stadium for the last I-league match between Bengaluru FC and Mohun Bagan because of a gaffe on match-day passes.
KSFA held a meeting with JSW officials and will be issuing fresh passes to all 128 affiliated clubs to sort out the entry issue.
Read more : KSFA acts to sort out entry issue
Image : Subroto Cup facebook page
2013 edition of Subroto Cup will have teams from Ukraine, Oman, Bangladesh and Afghanistan apart from school teams from India. The 54th edition of Subroto Cup has grown bigger with 81 teams battling out for Under-14, Under-17 boys and U-17 girls accolades.
Age fraud which had marred the previous editions of the cup will be tackled harshly this time around says the organizers.
Apart from that organizers have written to all I-league clubs to help them for scouting talent during the country’s biggest inter-school tournament.
Read more : Subroto Cup organisers seek I-league club support
Ten Action has updated their website with I-League schedules. Two matches from next weekend will be live.