Tag: India (page 1 of 2)

Is Pelé’s Visit Enough to Revive Football in India?

In 1888, India held the first ever Durand Cup. Almost every year since then, spectators have watched for free, and last year’s winners were awarded Rs. 50 lakh as prize money. Once the British left, the Indian Armed Forces took over, and they have done a great job of keeping the cup and the sport alive for over 125 years. Unfortunately, this year the Durand Cup will not be played. Ironically, while the age-old football tournament was being cancelled, the city of Kolkata was getting ready to welcome football legend Pelé back to their city after 38 long years.

Continue reading

Performance Over Results

Contributed by Ajeya Row – Head, Soccer Schools, Pune FC

One of the greatest travesties of grassroots football is watching a coach jumping and yelling along the touchline as s/he sucks the joy out of the game for the kids out on the pitch. I recently caught an Under-12 game where a school coach cursed and heckled his own player for misplacing a pass! It was disgraceful.

When I think back to why coaches behave like that in training or at a game, there are a few reasons that come to mind:

Continue reading

AFC U16 Qualifiers: India U16s Lose to Iran

India U16 lost to Iran U16: 0-3

(Sharfi 15, Khodamoradi 43, Ghaderi 57)

India’s Under-16 team lost 0-3 to the Iran Under-16s in their penultimate AFC U16 Championship qualifying match in Tabriz City, Iran. Coming into the match on the back of a successful Germany tour and a big win over the Bahrain U16s, the Indians had been quietly confident of giving the hosts a good fight.

The Indian colts actually began strongly as they dominated the opening ten minutes with quality possession. However, Iran scored first in the 15th minute against the run of play. Not to be deterred, the India U16s kept pouring forward but, despite their best efforts, were unable to break down the Iranian defence. Despite the pressure, it was Iran who scored again two minutes before half-time which left the Indians going into the break two goals down. It then got worse in the 57th minute when Iran scored their third goal after which both teams seemed resigned to the result.

The game ended at 0-3 in favour of Iran. The young Blue Tigers will take on the Lebanon U16s who lost 1-2 to Bahrain earlier in the day.

To read the match report, click here.

India U17 World Cup Squad Chalks Up Another Win

Now into their 10th match of the Germany exposure trip, India’s Under-17 World Cup team played a tough match against Bundesliga club, FC Ingolstadt Under-16s to get a  tight 1-0  win. With AIFF General Secretary, Kushal Das, looking on at the Deutsches Fussball Internat (DFI) ground in Bad Aibling, Germany, the boys went toe-to-toe with their illustrious German counterparts for much of the game before Aniket played a delightful through ball for Aman to score in the 46th minute at the start of the second half. This prompted waves of attacks from the FC Ingolstadt boys, but the Indians held out to keep a clean sheet and see the game through.

To read the match report, click here.

U Dream Football Takes 15 Boys to Germany on Full Scholarship

Team U Dream Football 2015

Team U Dream Football 2015
Image Credit: U Dream Football

In a first-of-its-kind initiative in India, U Dream Football backed by Ronnie Screwvala, will take 15 boys aged below 14 years to leading Bundesliga club, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, for a 6-year training program on full scholarships.  The boys were chosen after U Dream Football coaches scoured the length and breadth of the nation over a year during which they covered over 1,000 schools spread across 45 cities.

Continue reading

Chhetri Talks About Importance of Grassroots

Sunil Chhetri

Image Credit: AFP

India’s leading goalscorer, Sunil Chhetri, recently spoke with FIFA about football in India. Some of the points he touched upon in the interview were India’s stuttering qualifying campaign for the 2018 World Cup in Russia and the support he got from his mother and aunt who competed at international level for Nepal. But one of things that stood out in his interview was his emphasis on the way forward for Indian football to improve:

“The sooner that we create an environment and system in which every boy or girl that wants to play football – and if they are good enough – can be provided with good coaching and good facilities, then half our job is done. That is my dream and aspiration for my nation. In that case we wouldn’t have the FIFA Ranking that we have now.” – Sunil Chhetri

To read the full interview, click here.

India U17 WC Squad Defeat SV Wacker Burghausen

The Indian Under-17 World Cup squad continued their string of impressive displays by defeating the SV Wacker Burghausen U16 team 4-0. The young Blues opened their account as early as the 3rd minute before doubling their lead in the 7th minute. The first half ended with score at 2-0 and India coach, Nicolai Adam, rang in the changes for the second half to give more playing time to the rest of the squad.

More sustained pressure in the second half from the Indians eventually yielded another goal in the 64th minute and prolific scorer, Aniket, put the game to bed with his second goal of the match in the 84th minute. The match ended with a 4-0 scoreline in favour of India.

Goalscorers: Komal, Ninthoiganba, Aniket (2)

About SV Wacker Burghausen

It is a German club that plays in the highest association football league in Bavaria. It participates in one of the five Regionalligas in German football, the fourth tier of the German football league system. It is also one of Germany’s largest sports clubs with about 6,000 members participating in nearly 24 different sports.

To read the match report, click here.

U17 World Cup Squad Share Spoils with AKA Tirol

The India Under-16 team took on AKA Tirol on a wet and cold evening in Austria as part of their Germany exposure tour. Despite finding themselves two goals down within the first 25 minutes of the match, the Indians battled back to secure a 2-2 draw through goals by Komal and substitute Rahul.

This is the eighth match of the Germany tour as India’s Under-17 2017 World Cup squad, coached by Nicolai Adam, get high-quality match practice against well-drilled European teams. To be hosted in India, the AIFF is going all out to ensure that no stone is left unturned to give the Indian team the best chance to perform well at this highly prestigious tournament.

To read the match report, click here.

 

2nd Place Finish for India U12s at Asian Youth Football Fiesta

India Under-12 Team

The India U12 Team

An Indian Under-12 team from Nagaland comprising boys mainly from Greenwood School, Dimapur achieved a creditable second place finish at the recently concluded Asian Youth Football Fiesta 2015. The tournament was conducted in Anseong, South Korea where the India U12s emerged runners-up in the group after winning three group matches out of four while Thailand finished as champions.

Continue reading

India U16 Teams Have a Field Day

The India U16 - SAFF Championship 2015

The India U16 Team – SAFF Championship
2015 Credits: AIFF Media Team

The Indian U16 teams, the National Team taking part in the SAFF U16 Championship in Bangladesh and the team currently touring Germany, posted big victories over the Sri Lanka U16s and Rosenheim U16s.

Continue reading

Older posts