Indian football team coach Wim Koevermans's contract will be extended till the end of next year's Asian Games in October, the AIFF's technical committee, headed by former captain Bhaichung Bhutia, decided in New Delhi on Monday.
Languishing at the bottom of the heap in the ongoing I-League, Churchill Brothers showed remarkable resilience as they outclassed a formidable Sporting Clube de Goa 3-1 to win their maiden Federation Cup title at the floodlit Nehru Stadium in Kochi.
Defending champions India dished out yet another lacklustre performance to go down 1-2 against hosts Nepal but still managed to sail through to the semi-finals of the SAFF Football Championships in Kathmandu on Thursday.
The Indian football team's disastrous performance at the international level continued as it went down 0-3 to Tajikistan in an international friendly in Khujand, Tajikistan, on Wednesday.
The Indian football team's disastrous performance at the international level continued as it went down 0-3 to Tajikistan in an international friendly in Khujand, Tajikistan, on Wednesday.
But how much has the national team actually improved?
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.