Indian Super League franchise NorthEast United FC (NEUFC) co-owner John Abraham expressed optimism that the country's ranking in international football would go up to 'double digit' from the current 159th position in the next seven years.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
Laxmi Negi/Rediff.com caught up with the two footballers to find out more about their time in the country.
Germany scored five times in 27 minutes in the first half to crush Estonia 8-0 and make it three wins in three Euro 2020 Group C qualifiers.
India captain Sunil Chhetri has urged fans to be patient with the team and coach Stephen Constantine after the national team's yet another shambolic qualification campaign for the 2018 soccer World Cup.
Argentina and Brazil both lost their opening World Cup qualifiers on Thursday as the South American campaign for Russia 2018 started in unexpected fashion.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
Spain fullback Mario Gaspar scored with a stunning volley and midfielder Santi Cazorla added a late goal as the European champions handed England a chastening 2-0 defeat in a friendly between the continental heavyweights on Friday.
Serge Gnabry continued his impressive scoring run for Germany, netting in second-half stoppage time for his ninth goal in his 10th international, completing Germany's eighth consecutive win over Northern Ireland.
National football coach Stephen Constantine said his 'target' was to breach the 100 mark by the time his two-year contract expires.
Malaysian fans say no to Premier League 'circus games'.
, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu's father wanted his son to become a cricketer but the goalkeeper is glad he did not heed the paternal advice.
Wales will move higher than their richer rivals and neighbours England when the new FIFA rankings are announced after Euro 2016, the first sign for what, many predict, will be a bright future after they made history at the tournament. Playing in their first finals since 1958, the Welsh reached the last four of a major tournament for the first time and are expected to move up close to the top 10 countries in the world rankings.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
IMAGES from the Euro 2020 qualifiers played on Thursday
Sujal Kahar is all set to represent India at the Football for Friendship tournament in Russia.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
World champions Germany cruised to a comfortable 4-1 victory over Azerbaijan to stay on track for a spot in next year's World Cup in Russia, while England laboured to a 2-0 victory over Lithuania.
Minerva Punjab FC will take on Indian Super League side Jamshedpur FC on April 2 in the inaugural Super Cup football tournament which begins in Bhubaneswar on March 31.
Jeje Lalpekhlua (72nd minute) and Sunil Chhettri (101th) scored for India after Zubayr Amiri had given Afghanistan the lead in the 69th minute at the Greenfield Stadium.
An ambitious project to awaken a sleeping giant of Asian soccer looks like confirming Nobel laureate Amartya Sen's famous remark that India pricks up its ears only when comparisons with China are made. With China embarked on a multi-billion dollar mission to become a soccer superpower by 2050, India looks set to follow suit with its own plan to raise its status in the game to match its burgeoning economic power. Come October, India, most famously described as soccer's sleeping giant by former FIFA president Sepp Blatter, will launch a programme to engage more than 11 million children in soccer-related activities.
Having missed out on lucrative offers in the inaugural edition after his I-League club, Bengaluru FC, refused to release their players for the tournament, Indian football ace Sunil Chhetri is raring to go in the second second season which kicks-off on October 3.
On the pitches of ramshackle football academies across West Africa, teenage boys chase one another in pursuit of the ball, the chance to impress, and the prospect of a lucrative contract with one of Europe's top teams.
When Michel Platini revamped the European Championship, turning the finals from a tough, lean 16-team tournament in 2012 into a flabby, 'roll up, anybody's welcome' 24-side affair in 2016, it was not surprising he ran into a blizzard of rebukes.
The 'sleeping giant' woke up to a new dawn with the Indian Super League putting Indian football on the global map, but the national team continued to paint a grim picture, plummeting to its worst-ever rankings in an eventful year for the sport.
An Olympic campaign saved by the fortitude of three women, a cricket team that rediscovered itself under a bold and zealous Virat Kohli -- Indian sports in 2016 was a dramatic mix of highs and lows wherein athletes mostly raised the bar but administrators found new ways to embarrass the country.
Holders Spain suffered their first defeat in qualifying for a major tournament in eight years when Miroslav Stoch nodded a late goal to earn Slovakia a shock 2-1 victory in Euro 2016 Group C on Thursday.
Making their first appearance in the WTA Finals in Singapore, Sania Mirza and Cara Black outplayed Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears in their opening match to book their semi-finals berth on Thursday.
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