Maharashtra organises Grassroot football coaching course with AIFF & FIFA support

The Western India Football Association, the Maharashtra state body of football, is since Wednesday, April 17 organising a five-day grassroots football course to boost development of the game in the 6 to 12 age category.

29 coaches from nine districts across Maharashtra are participating in the course which is being held at the Cooperage Ground with WIFA organising it under the aegis of the All India Football Federation and world football governing body FIFA.

The participanting coaches are from the districts of Satara, Kolhapur, Pune, Osmanabad, Nagpur, Thane, Jalgaon, Solapur and Mumbai. They are being trained under the watchful eyes of FIFA Instructor Vincent Subramaniam and AIFF Grassroots Program Manager Suvrat Thatte.

The five day intensive course for grassroot coaches included theory and practical sessions.

"The primary objective of the programme is to attract more people towards football and popularise the game at grassroots level by providing opportunity to every child who is interested in playing football. This is an initiative that will go a long way in developing the game of football in the long run in Maharashtra," said WIFA Secretary Souter Vaz.

"The AIFF and Western India Football Association have taken utmost care to choose the candidates for this course. They would drive further the philosophy of grassroots football in every nook and corner of Maharashtra with many such courses all over the state," said WIFA CEO Henry Menezes.

The course will conclude on Sunday, April 21 with a football festival involving around 200 young footballers.

Lutz Pfannenstiel: I've heard about Subrata Pal's potential

On the second day of the AIFF organized Goalkeeping Course, 'Art of German Goalkeeping' the course instructor Lutz Pfannenstiel spoke about an Indian Goalkeeper, Subrata Pal.

The buzz in the classroom amongst the participants was unmistakable. Lutz Pfannenstiel clarified, "I know, I know… I am talking about his stint with RB Leipzig in Germany."

To the surprise of the participants, Lutz Pfannenstiel knew quite a bit about Subrata Pal but that is not uncommon for a scout like Lutz who has been a personal friend of mine for many, many years and he has been briefed about Indian football by me before he left.

Lutz pointed out that Subrata's stint with the German outfit in division four (Regionalliga Nordost) was a very fruitful one and assured that the standard of the fourth tier in Germany is as good as the Premier League in other parts of the world.

"I got good reviews about him (Subrata). The standard in the German fourth division League is very high I can assure you that. So his stint with Rasen Ballsport Leipzig must have been very good. I've heard about his potential. The standard in Germany is very high and level of competition stays intense."

He continued as the coaches listened. "Germany is the place for goalkeepers! So Pal's training could only have gone in one direction… that is good."

The two-hour long theory session also saw Pfannenstiel stress on the importance and transformation of equipments of a goalkeeper, training methods and so on. Videos were shown to the participants to explain the drills they need to perform in their next practical session.

Speaking on the transformation of equipments Pfannenstiel said, "The equipments of a goalkeeper has changed over the years. From the ball which swings a lot now than probably ten years back, to their gloves, everything has changed. A goalkeeper of the 80's would find life difficult nowadays."

"The need for good quality equipments is paramount. In Africa you don't find good goalkeepers. The reason is that kids who choose goalkeeping have harrowing experience standing under the bar. The grounds are full of stones and they are the ones who have to do the diving. So naturally they don't want to do it again. This is where good quality kits come into play."

Pfannenstiel also pointed out some features of how coaches should train their goalkeepers. "A goalkeeper trains alone with his coach. He is in that way separated from the main team's training. But the Head Coach stays the most important. A goalkeeper’s training is always special," Lutz said.

"If you are a National Team Goalkeeping Coach you have limited time with your goalkeepers. So you have to out your training plan in a nutshell. But if you are with a club you have time and this is where club keeper training comes into the fray."

AIFF organised ‘Art of German Goalkeeping’ kicks-off in Mumbai

The All India Football Federation organised goalkeeping course titled 'Art of German Goalkeeping' kicked-off at the Cooperage ground in Mumbai today.

This first of its kind course is being organised by AIFF in association with the German Olympic Association (DOSB) and German Football Association (DFB). Former German Goalkeeper Lutz Pfannenstiel is conducting the week-long course which will comprise of theory and practical sessions, stressing on various positions of the goalkeeper and how the dynamics have changed in recent years.

Pfannenstiel, a scout for Bundesliga outfit TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, also spoke on the basic role of a goalkeeping coach and explained the difference between a normal coach and a goalkeeping coach citing examples.

"The position of a goalkeeper has transformed over the years. Now a goalkeeper has to be a good footballer as well. Manuel Neuer is the best example of a modern day goalkeeper. He is a motivator in the side," Lutz said.

"Shot stopping skills alone are not enough anymore. A goalkeeper needs to distribute the ball well and on counter-attacks he plays a key role in building the first block of a move," Lutz added.

"In the 2006 World Cup in Germany, Lehmann got the nod ahead of Oliver Kahn because Lehmann was more a modern day goalkeeper than Kahn, who was of course the best shot stopper."

Twenty eight coaches including those contracted with the AIFF are attending the one week course.

"A goalkeeper is a team player and a lone warrior. He trains differently as well. But again he is the motivator if the side," Lutz further added.

"Goalkeeping coaches are not like normal coaches. You see Jose Mourinho perhaps never kicked a football. Arsene Wenger was not a great player. But they are world class coaches. But a person who cannot kick the ball well cannot be a goalkeeping coach. In training you need to shoot the ball perfectly and in chest height for your goalkeeper to get good practice."

Lutz Pfannenstiel, who has the unique distinction of having been the only professional football to play in on all six Continents maintained that it is the responsibility of goalkeeping coaches to make their second and third choice custodians 'feel important'.

"A goalkeeper's position stays static on the football pitch. You can have two world class strikers playing but not two great goalkeepers. So for a coach it is very important to keep his second and third choice keepers happy and make them feel important. They should be fielded in Friendlies and less important matches."

The 90 minute educative session was followed by an hour of practical session where the 28 participants were taught relevant drills.


The list of coaches stay as follows

Tanumoy Basu, Mario Aguiar, Feroz Sheriff, Henry Picardo, Subrata Dasgupta, Abdul Siddique, Raghuvir Khanolkar, Pramod Brid, Abdul Quadeer, Premkanta Singh, William Koso, Mohammed Yusuf Ansari, Utpal Mukherjee, T.K. Majumdar, Richard Sanchez, Sebastian Noronha, Chandrakant Naik, Ashok Panda, Nirvan Shah, Vivek Gupta, Gavin Araujo, Lokesh Kukrety, Nitesh Dimri, Hameed K., Fysal K. Bappu, Manoj Nair, Gumpe Rime, Abun Gobi Singh

'The Art of German Goalkeeping' course in Mumbai from tomorrow

A high performance goalkeeping instructor course titled 'The Art of German Goalkeeping' will be held from October 8 to 15 at the Cooperage Ground in Mumbai.

The course will be conducted by instructors Lutz Pfannenstiel and Feliz Imm from Germany, who are on a three week coaching instruction trip to India as part of a partnership between the German Olympic Association (DOSB) and German Football Association (DFB) plus their Indian partners All India Football Federation, Indian Football Association (West Bengal), Mizoram Football Association and Western Indian Football Association (Maharashtra).

The course in Mumbai is being organised by WIFA under the aegis of the AIFF, DOSB and DFB with the course open to AIFF affiliated coaches plus those from I-League clubs and Academies.

AIFF's Technical Director for Regional Academies Scott O'Donell would also conduct some modules of the program. The coaching program includes theory as well as practical sessions and the participants would be introduced to the German way of goalkeeping.

"This is a great initiative. This course will be the first of many such activities that will take place at Cooperage in the coming months," added WIFA CEO Henry Menezes.

Before coming to Mumbai the duo of Lutz Pfannenstiel and Feliz Imm have been in Kolkata (West Bengal) and Aizawl (Mizoram) over the last couple of weeks to do general coaching courses.

Is the upcoming I-League set to face venue problems?

The 2012/13 edition of the I-League, India's professional football league, is set to kick-off sometime in October 2012 after the conclusion of the 2012 Federation Cup. But the sixth edition is set to face venue and infrastructure problems of unknown proportions.

It is already known that Goa's Nehru Stadium, also known as Fatorda Stadium, in Margao is set for major renovation work ahead of next years Lusofonia Games. This means the stadium will not be available for the whole duration of the I-League and with the Duler ground in Mapusa still work in progress as it is getting an artificial turf under the FIFA 'Win in India with India' programme, this leaves only Vasco's Tilak Maidan as an I-League venue in Goa for the four participating clubs - Dempo SC, Churchill Brothers SC, Salgaocar SC and Sporting Clube de Goa.

Mumbai's Cooperage ground is also part of FIFA's 'Win in India with India' programme. There the artificial turf is already in use and through another FIFA grant the Cooperage is getting upgraded with proper stands plus a floodlighting system. Only as per WIFA CEO Henry Menezes' assessment it will not be ready to host I-League matches before November 2012. This means Air India, Mumbai FC and promoted ONGC might have to play their first few home matches in Pune or start with a number of away ties.

Now in Kolkata the Saltlake Stadium had its problems last season with floodlights which resulted in matches having to be played in the afternoon heat due to the need of daylight and to avoid floodlight failure which has been reoccurring since September 2004. West Bengal Sports Minister Madan Mitra promised the IFA, the I-League clubs and football lovers that the archaic floodlights would be replaced by the start of the next I-League, but that now looks to be in danger with the minister not willing to give any final date. This could mean further afternoon matches in the Saltlake Stadium in the new I-League season for East Bengal Club, Mohun Bagan AC, Prayag United SC and the Pailan Arrows.

The above leaves the I-League with 11 of their 14 clubs having stadium issues at the start of the I-League season with Pune FC hopefully not facing similar problems with their floodlights as last season and United Sikkim FC's home town of Gangtok not being off limits due to bad weather in the winter months.

It's a difficult time to plan out things for the I-League...

Bombay High Court allows Cooperage redevelopment!

The Bombay High Court yesterday gave a verdict which will hopefully help to finally develop the Cooperage Ground into a national level and then international standard football venue. The court in their ruling dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) against the construction of a football stadium on the premises of the Cooperage Ground with the local residents arguing that Mumbai has too little public space and the Cooperage should be public property rather then a professional sports venue. This ends years of deadlock and hopefully the work will start soon.

The verdict said, "The planning authority consisting of experts have not fixed any specific ratio of open spaces. In the absence of specific material, we can’t hold that the city requires a particular percentage of open spaces and that grant of building permission in the present case would result in diminution of open spaces to such an extent as to affect right to life."

The Cooperage Ground is already getting a FIFA sponsored artificial turf, while FIFA has made a pledge of a 2 Million US Dollar grant for the venues redevelopment and temporary stands along with new dressing rooms will be build in place of the current structures for the upcoming I-League season. There are even plans to quickly install floodlight towers to allow evening matches.

The Western Indian Football Association nor the Mumbai District Football Association had been able to redevelop the venue due to the PIL case. Even the AIFF president Praful Patel in his function as WIFA president could not do anything about the redevelopment of the ground due the PIL though the former Maharashtra chief minister Sushilkumar Shinde had allowed WIFA on July 3, 2003 to construct a full-fledged football stadium along with facilities like club house, restaurant, hotel and other commercial structures.

But in 2006 a PIL was filed by former IAS officer and former Mumbai municipal commissioner Jamshed Kanga along with members of the Oval Cooperage Residents Association against the development of the Cooperage Ground as they say the venue is not for professional sports, but rather a recreational ground where there shouldn't be any stadium build and be open for all. But many football lovers in Mumbai say that the residents just didn't want a big stadium built in front of their houses with 25,000 to 30,000 people turning up for matches. During the PIL hearing not even allowing basic renovation work to happen.

After the verdict WIFA CEO Henry Menezes said, "It is a great thing to happen for Mumbai and Maharashtra. We will now build a first class stadium with international standards which would make the city a hub for football matches."

Hopefully this will be a new start for football in Mumbai, but more venues across the financial hub of India are needed to develop the sport further.

Cooperage Ground problems continue

One of Mumbai's biggest problems is the lack of grounds at all levels of football - professional, amateur, youth - but there is huge interest in the beautiful game in the financial capital of India as I myself saw a few weeks ago.

And the problem at the top level is just unacceptable then professional football cannot grow in Mumbai, forgot sustaining itself. Now over the years this has lead to the historic Rovers Cup being stopped, while successful Mahindra United closed down at the end of last season. One of the reasons given by Anand Mahindra was the lack of fans.

The Cooperage Ground is finally getting a FIFA sponsored artificial turf, but the grounds only stand is a total disgrace. Actually it is a risk for life to try to get onto the stand to watch a match, but the Western Indian Football Association nor the Mumbai District Football Association are able to develop the venue due to a PIL (public interest litigation) case.

Even the AIFF president Praful Patel in his old function as WIFA president couldn't do anything about the redevelopment of the ground due the PIL though the former
Maharashtra chief minister Sushilkumar Shinde allowed WIFA in 2003 to construct a full-fledged football stadium along with facilities like club house, restaurant, hotel and other commercial structures.

But in 2006 a PIL was filed by former IAS officer and former Mumbai municipal commissioner Jamshed Kanga along with members of the Oval Cooperage Residents Association against the development of the Cooperage Ground, which has not allowed even basic renovation work to happen.

Now there could be light at the end of the tunnel as a final date for the PIL's hearing has been fixed for April 20. Maybe thereafter the ground can finally be redeveloped to a basic standard to host I-League matches next season.

Also there has been talk of the redevelopment of the Cooperage ground by Reliance Industries under the partnership between the AIFF and IMG-Reliance. If the legal hurdles are sorted out it would be a welcome sign and only a first step, then Mumbai needs at least a second national standard ground for football to be played all year through.

If not football will suffer even more and then only a Anna Hazare like campaign could safe Mumbai football...


This is a blog entry I had written on the weekend of the 2010 FIFA World Cup last July on the same topic: The Cooperage tragedy continues .

Venue voes for I-League

The fourth edition of the I-league, India's Professional Football League, is set to kick-off on November 26 across India with 14 clubs taking part, but some venues will not be available for the start of the league. The Bangalore Football Stadium as well as the Cooperage Ground in Mumbai will be dug-up at the time for laying of artificial pitches under the "Win in India with India" project of world football governing body FIFA.

The two I-League venues besides Shillong and Manipur were selected as the first four cities to get an artificial turf as part of infrastructure development in Indian football sponsored by FIFA. In the second phase four to six further artificial turfs would be allotted to cities and states.

But during the time of redevelopment of these grounds and training pitches, which usually takes around three to four month's, they are off limits and that is harming the scheduling of the I-League this season.

As Mumbai has no other suitable venue to host I-League matches, the Western Indian Football Association has decided to shift matches of the three city based I-League sides to Kolhapur, which is about 400 kilometres southeast of Mumbai. Kolhapur is said to be a football crazy city with local matches drawing up to 35,000 spectators. The Chhatrapati Sahu Stadium in Kolhapur has hosted second division I-League matches in the past.

In Bangalore it is the same problem, but the Karnataka State Football Association can fall back on the much bigger Sree Kanteerava Stadium if need be, but still the KSFA has asked the AIFF and I-League committee to switch the home advantage of the four affected matches of promoted Hindustan Aeronautics Limited SC. The opening game between HAL and JCT has already been switched to Ludhiana in Punjab; while about the three other matches no decision has been made. The I-League organisers would like to want as little change of venues and dates as possible.

Meanwhile Viva Kerala themselves have decided to shift their homes matches from Calicut to Kannur. No longer will the Municipal Corporation Stadium in Calicut play home to Kerala's only I-League side, but from now on Kannur's Municipal Jawahar Floodlit Stadium. Viva Kerala has shifted its team base from Kochi to Kannur too, which in the last few years has successfully hosted the E.K. Nayanar Memorial Gold Cup.

The Cooperage tragedy continues

With the 2010 FIFA World Cup around we have lost a little focus on what's happening in Indian football. And here some bad news in regard to infrastructure.

The tragic story surrounding the redevelopment of the Cooperage Ground in Mumbai continues. I remember I first read an article about it sometime in 1998 when a plan was made public to redevelop the ground to international standard, have an underground parking lot, a club house and other facilities. And a certain WIFA (Western India Football Association) president called Praful Patel was behind the project, but till date nothing has happened and the potential development plans are stuck in court.

On Thursday the Bombay High Court declined to vacate a stay on the construction of a world class football stadium and ancillary structures at the Cooperage Ground in South Mumbai. This means that WIFA along with the Maharashtra government cannot start any work until a final verdict has been given by the courts. And the next hearing has been fixed for September 1.

The Oval Cooperage Residents Association along with former Mumbai municipal commissioner Jamsheed Kanga had filed a petition against construction of a stadium as they say the Cooperage ground is not for professional sports, but rather a recreational ground where there shouldn't be any stadium build and open for all. But many football lovers in Mumbai say that the residents just don't want a big stadium built in front of their houses with 25,000 to 30,000 people turning up for matches.

So the status quo continues though the then Maharashtra chief minister in 2003 had agreed for a football stadium to be build at the Cooperage, but till date the old, broken stands and inadequate changing rooms are used for top class matches in the I-League and local leagues in Mumbai. And with the authorities not deciding to build another facility elsewhere football in India's financial capital continues to suffer...