"I want to thank god for giving me the opportunity to travel this distance, for only the second trip of my life to India."
Brandon Fernandes returned to the side as Goa coach Juan Ferrando named three changes to the line-up that lost against ATK Mohun Bagan with Aiban Dohling and Jeorge Ortiz being the other two.
Brazilian great Pele is not the only football star scheduled to touch down in Kolkata with Indian Super League team Atletico de Kolkata co-owner Sourav Ganguly claiming that England superstar Wayne Rooney would also be visiting the city later this year.
It's time for the 'sleeping giant' to wake up from its slumber as the King of football Pele will grace India in October, adding to the festive mood in the country that hosted him 38 years ago.
Tainted by a doping offence a year ago, Indian footballer Rana Gharami has now become a hero in his home town, by lending a helping hand to those struggling to survive the coronavirus pandemic. The 29-year-old former Odisha FC defender hails from Garalgacha in West Bengal's Hooghly district.
The Indian football team put up a better display in their second group game but lost 2-0 to a superior Jordan thus ending their campaign in the 17th Asian Games in Incheon on Monday.
Former India captain and CAB president, Sourav Ganguly, is working overtime to get everything in order at Eden Gardens, which is set to host the country's first pink-ball multi-day cricket match under lights. With drone flying over him under the dazzling Eden floodlights, the iconic lefthander was seen shooting promotional with the pink Kookaburra. "Eden Gardens will hold the first day-night (four-day) match in India. It has given us many moments to celebrate, now it's getting ready to host yet another moment to remember," Ganguly said in the promotional. Later talking to media, Ganguly, who is also the BCCI technical committee chairman, said, "Pink ball is the future... This will be the ultimate form of Test cricket. What will be the use of doing something which will have little interest left."
It wasn't exactly a happy day for sportspersons as 3 former India captains Mohammed Azharuddin, Bhaichung Bhutia and Dilip Tirkey suffered heavy defeats with Olympic silver medallist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore's thumping victory being the only saving grace.
ISL reallocates prize money, league stage winners to get Rs 3 crore more from this season.
Hockey coach Ramesh Parameswaran applies for Dronacharya Award
Even as I-League and Indian Super League merger is being mulled, AIFF stresses that the popular ISL 'is, in fact a tournament, like the Rovers Cup'.
Real Kashmir FC co-owner Sandeep Chattoo, on Friday, said his side is now on a mission to make the 'paradise on earth' a paradise for the beautiful game.
Chhetri's first professional contract was with Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan at a tender age of 17. It was a big challenge to overcome for a teenager and he buckled under pressure at times.
Chuni Goswami needs insulin daily and due to the 21-day nationwide lockdown his medical supervisor is not able to attend him but his wife Basanti is 'managing' it somehow. Former India hockey captain Gurbux Singh remembers the World War II and also the partition but said he never witnessed anything like the current crisis.
It all started to go from bad to worse when controversial former All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Praful Patel, whose third term in office ended in December 2020, stayed in office citing a pending Supreme Court case.
Kohli backed Ravi Shastri to continue as India head coach
Odisha FC made a strong case for play-off qualification with a 2-1 victory over Hyderabad FC in the Indian Super League encounter, in Hyderabad, on Wednesday.
Laggards in international rankings, India finally made their presence felt by pulling off an impressive under-17 World Cup that drew all-round praise even though the country was eliminated in the very first round.
Shahbaz, one of the pillars of the Bengal Ranji Trophy side, is also an integral part of Royal Challengers Bangalore
Chaubey, a former goalkeeper for big clubs like Mohun Bagan and East Bengal, welcomed Bhutia in the executive committee as a co-opted member.
The catch here is that one has to buy the season tickets to get the discount of "about 60 per cent".
The legendary Bhaichung Bhutia on Friday filed his nomination for the president's post in the upcoming AIFF elections but getting through won't be easy for the former footballer as several candidates with political affiliations have also thrown their hats in the ring.
Dipanda Dicka's solitary second half goal gave Shillong Lajong their fourth home win of the season as they beat Churchill Brothers 1-0 in a seventh round I-League match at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Shillong on Sunday.
Sunil Chhetri, who holds the national record of most international matches and most number of goals, made it clear that retirement plans are currently not on his mind.
Five players and three team officials from Real Kashmir FC, one player each from Mohammedan Sporting, debutants Sreenidi Deccan FC and Aizawl FC returned positive in the tests, conducted in Kolkata, on Tuesday.
With the nationwide lockdown in place to fight the spread of COVID-19, the first condolence meeting held on virtual platform. Banerjee had died on March 20 after a prolonged illness while Goswami succumbed to cardiac arrest on April 30.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
While he has 57 first-class, 24 List A and 39 T20 wickets at domestic level, Shahbaz Ahmed does have the ability to punch above his weight.
India's first Winter Olympian, Shiva Keshavan, on Monday urged the authorities to come forward and help the athletes who are left to battle all odds in their quest to bring laurels to the country. Taking part in a panel discussion under the banner 'International Convention on Business of Sports', organised by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) here, the youngest ever athlete to officially qualify for the Olympic Games in luge said, "We sportsmen are always very altruistic. We focus so much on doing well in our respective disciplines that nothing else matters to us. But, the government should come forward and help us nonetheless." The 34-year-old athlete from Manali took part as an independent participant in 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics due to the suspension of Indian Olympic Association (IOA). However, as the ban was lifted while the Games were still on, he ended up competing under the Indian flag. "I have taken part in five Winter Olympics without a coach. I always wanted to be trained under a good coach. But later, I realised that I wasted a lot of time chasing a lot of things," said Keshavan who finally found a coach in American Duncan Kennedy but had to part ways after a short stint due to financial constraints. "The government was only paying for a part of his (Kennedy's) salary," he said.
Five years after the Indian Super League was established, so has its effective preeminence in Indian football.
While the venue for the senior national team is fixed, a lot also depends on the state governments as far as organising the camps for the U-16 outfit and U-17 women's side are are concerned.
'Rani made it very clear when she signed the film that she would shoot only during her daughter's summer vacation so as not to disturb her role as a real life mother.'
Asian Football Confederation president Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa inaugurated the refurbished Cooperage stadium in Mumbai on Wednesday and said hosting the Under-17 World Cup in 2017 will boost development of the game in the country. The refurbishing of Cooperage was done under FIFA's 'Win in India, With India' project.
India's two rival football leagues will merge within five years and will be profitable not long after, a senior official at the country's football association said on Wednesday.
Mumbai FC coach Khalid Jamil looks back on his playing days and the challenge of coaching.
