Conscient Premier Football League enters its fifth Season

Conscient Football today announced the date for its fifth season of Conscient Premier Football League (CPFL). The only league of its kind in India, The Conscient Football Premier League emphasises importance of fair play and sportsmanship as against competitiveness. It also provides a platform for school children and their parents to come together and participate in a fun filled weekend league as a team. CPFL will be held over weekends at The Heritage School in Rohini and Gurgaon.

Registration for the program will close by end-August and the matches will start from October 7, 2012. Matches will be played over 11 weekends and will focus on imparting values such as fair play, positive attitude, team effort and good mannerisms to the kids through the game.

Last year the program saw participation from school kids across Delhi comprising more than 52 teams. All teams were coached and managed by parents who volunteered and were trained by Conscient Football.

This innovative league has been created using best practices from around the world. The league makes it mandatory for every member of the team to get equal opportunity on the play field and also decides the winner through the number of green cards the team receives instead of their match scores. Teams and individual players receive Green Card on displaying qualities such as fair play and good mannerisms on and off the field.

On announcing the league Anupama Jain, Director at Conscient Football said, "We are happy to witness a phenomenal rise in enthusiasm for football in the country. CPFL has garnered tremendous interest as it is the only platform at such a scale where parents and kids come together and work as a team. The league enables us to nourish talent and create a feeder program for higher level football programs, including FC Barcelona's official football school the FCBEscola that we will be starting later this year."

Conscient Football is one of the largest grassroots development organizations for football in India. Participants can register online through the Conscient Football site www.conscientfootball.in .

Where will Team India hold its pre-Nehru Cup camp?

The first Team India camp under new national coach Wim Koevermans is set to kick-off in a couple of weeks on July 27, but where is currently the big question then the shown facilities in New Delhi were not to the liking of Koevermans and now the AIFF is scouting for alternative training facilities within the country.

This brings me back to something that former India coach Bob Houghton used to say that India lacks the necessary training facilities to prepare a senior national team for an international competition and therefore he was forced to organise training camps in Portugal, Spain and Dubai.

With the Nehru Cup set to be played from August 23 to September 2 in New Delhi the capital was the preferred choice for the preparatory and selection camp, but the Ambedkar Stadium isn't in shape and will host a parade for Independence Day on August 15, the Nehru Stadium practice ground and other facilities also didn't meet the expectations.

Now venues in Bangalore, Jamshedpur, Gurgaon and the JCT Academy in Hoshiarpur are being considered as potential options, then now planning and going abroad doesn't make sense especially with local India conditions to be there at the Nehru Cup.

One will have to wait and see what solution the AIFF comes-up with...

FC Barcelona to set-up Official Football School in India

Within two months of announcing its plan to enter India in October 2011, Catalan giants FC Barcelona through the FCBEscola completed the first couple of FCBCamps in December 2011 and January 2012. With the second set of camps already underway, more than a thousand enthusiastic young footballers will have experienced the Barça life. The participants have come from over a 100 schools and from more than 20 cities across the country like Delhi, Bangalore, Kochi, Jaipur, Bhopal, Baroda and Pune to name a few.

Taking forward its commitment, FC Barcelona today announced the setting-up of its official Football School FCBEscola in Delhi-NCR. It is the school model of FC Barcelona, exported internationally with the idea of extending the Barça brand and values to the world. FCBEscola Delhi will be set-up in association with Conscient Football, the only official partner of the club in India. FCBEscola will be operational within 2012 and will have capacity for around 300 players between 6 -14 years of age. This will create a long-term training and development platform for aspiring footballers in India.

Subsequent to Delhi, Barça and Conscient Football plan to expand the various programs into other major Indian cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Goa, Pune, Ahmedabad to name a few.

Addressing the launch of FCBEscola Delhi in a press conference, Xevi Marce, Director of FCBEscola, said, "This is one of the most ambitious projects for FCBEscola worldwide. We hope to train 10,000 young footballers in coming three years and with FCBEscola we will provide the depth and the quality needed to develop coaches and players from a very young age. We are very excited to be here and to share our vision with Conscient Football."

Xevi Marce introduced Antonio Claveria as the Technical Director for FCBEscola Delhi, who will be stationed here. Since the announcement of FCBEscola plans in October 2011 his team has been preparing him for the role. Antonio Claveria added, "It was a great experience for me to start the Barça India project in December 2011 and now I am thrilled to be the Technical Director of FCBEscola Delhi. I am looking forward to working with talented youngsters on a sustained and regular basis to nurture India's young footballers."

FC Barcelona is globally recognized for its ability to develop players. Eight players in Spain's 2010 FIFA World Cup winning squad were from FCB, and 50% of FCB's current first team are products of its youth system. Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez, Victor Valdes, Gerald Pique, Carlos Puyol, Cesc Fabregas, Thiago Alcantara, Pedro are some of the top players trained under the Barça philosophy. FCBEscola Delhi will offer world-class training under the same successful methodology.

The school will come up in Delhi-NCR in partnership with Conscient Football, a grassroots football development initiative dedicated to raising the bar of football programming across India. Speaking at the launch, Anupama Jain - Director, Conscient Football, said, "We set out to bring the best to our country and are very proud to launch FCBEscola. With this, we will be able to create a pathway for young footballers to continue their development under the world's most successful training methodology. We believe that this will contribute towards the development of better players and citizens while helping India become a stronger footballing nation."

Also present at the conference were Josep Moratalla, former FC Barcelona player, who played with Diego Maradona and Bernd Schuster; Rajesh Jain, Director Conscient Group, and Tarun Chaudhry, COO Conscient Football.

Team India Players visit FC Barcelona Camp in Delhi

Some of India's finest football talents in captain Climax Lawrance, defender Gouramangi Singh, winger Clifford Miranda plus strikers Jeje Lalpekhlua and C.S. Sabeeth yesterday visited the FCBEscola (FC Barcelona football school) training camp at The Heritage School in Gurgaon.

The Indian footballers interacted with the young participants, who got the chance to ask question, take autographs and also played a series of friendly seven a-side matches with the Team India players involving FCBEscola coaches Aleix Gibert Buxeda and Antoni Claveria.

FC Barcelona through FCBEscola in association with Conscient Football is running two training camps in the National-Capital-Region. The first camp was held at The British School, Delhi between December 30, 2011 - January 4, 2012 and the second ongoing camp is being held at The Heritage School, Gurgaon. A total number of 360 children are part of the two camps in the age group Under-8, Under-10, Under-12, Under-14 and Under-17, including 20 girls and 18 children from the economically weaker sections.

Ex-Barcelona player and now coach at FCBEscola Josep 'Pep' Moratalla is leading the training assisted by two Spanish coaches, six coaches from Conscient Football and six assistants.

FCBEscola camp kicked-off in Delhi today

The much awaited FCBarcelona football training camp has started in Delhi. The FCBEscola, the FC Barcelona football school, in association with Conscient Football; began the first of the two camps at The British School, Chanakyapuri in New Delhi today, while the second camp will take place at The Heritage School in Gurgaon.

With 180 participants, the camp has been divided in two batches of 90 children each. The first phase of the camp is being held from today up to January 4, 2012 with January 1, 2012 being an day off. All participants received an official FCB Camp kit to wear during their 15 hours of FCBEscola training.

Ex-Barcelona player and now coach at FCBEscola Josep 'Pep' Moratalla is leading the training assisted by two other Spanish coaches, six coaches from Conscient Football and six further assistants. The participants are in the following age groups - Under-8, Under-10, Under-12, Under-14 and Under-17.

The camp is open to both boys and girls of all football playing abilities. During the intense sessions, participants will be trained in the same manner as the FC Barcelona players back in Spain.

Anupama Jain,Conscient Football Director, said, "This has been a great start as we have received phenomenal interest from players in Delhi as well as from other cities around the country. The participants represent over 80 schools and we have a number of girls who have registered for the camp which reflects the growth of football in India."

FCBEscola to start India Camps from December 30

FCBEscola, the FC Barcelona football school, in association with Conscient Football will start its first Indian football training camps in Delhi and Gurgaon from December 30, 2011 onwards.

Around 300 participants from across the the capital will be trained at two centres – The British School, Delhi and The Heritage School, Gurgaon. The camp at the British School will be held from December 30, 2011 to January 4, 2012 and at The Heritage School it will be held from January 6 - January 10, 2012. These will be five days intensive coaching camps with 15 hours of training given to each participant.

Scientifically developed, the training program is divided into three segments – Introduction, Pre-Training, and Training for youth in the age groups of 6–17 with the objective to provide world-class training under the same successful methodology that has produced leading football stars like Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta. The five day camp will take place on the pitch and in the classroom and will focus on the technical, tactical and off-the-pitch tools necessary to succeed in football and in life.

Ex-Barcelona player and now coach at FCBEscola Joseph Moratalla will be the head coach at the camps. He will be assisted by two Spanish coaches, six coaches from Conscient Football and six further assistants. The participants will be divided in following groups: Under-8, Under-10, Under-12, Under-14 and Under-17.

Announcing the Camp schedule, Anupama Jain, Director of Conscient Football, said, "The initial two camps will be held under the guidance of Joseph Moratalla and we hope that they will be a great start to the project and we will be able to grow them pan India very soon. We have already received interest from many other cities which clearly shows the popularity of football in India."

Super Cup: Ranty hattrick wins it for Dempo!

The Indian football season proper kicked-off yesterday with the Super Cup which I-League title holders Dempo Sports Club won 3-1 against the Federation Cup champions East Bengal Club. Nigerian striker Ranty Martins Soleye was the hero of the day for the Goans scoring all of Dempo's three goals in a 15 minute hattrick, but which did happen over the two halves.

There were high expectations from the game, but it never rose to any great heights though four goals were scored. For Dempo it was their second Super Cup triumph for which the Goans received Rs 1 Million (10 lakhs) as prize money. Interestingly Dempo had won their first Super Cup title over two years ago at the same venue against the same opponent in East Bengal, the score then 1-0.

East Bengal initially continued their good run of form, dictating terms and try to go ahead early in the contest. They succeeded in the 23rd minute when a Penn Ikechukwu Orji left-footer from outside the box went into the goal past young Laxmikant Kattimani. But thereafter the Kolkata giants committed some easy mistakes to not only bring Dempo's back into the game, but actually gift them the match. And the culprit for the red-and-gold was teenage goalkeeper Jayanta Pal, who in recent Calcutta Premier Division matches had shown his immense talent, but today he looked shaky throughout, maybe overawed by the occasion of a big match.

Dempo got the equaliser in the 34th minute when Jayanta and Sunil Kumar collided with the keeper unable to collect the ball and Ranty Martins Soleye was there to slot home. Only five minutes later Jayanta couldn't collect or properly clear an Ogba Kalu Nanna shot with Ranty lurking around to give Dempo's the lead. It stayed 2-1 at the break, but only four minutes into the second session Ranty would score his third to seal the match in favour of Dempo SC. This time the East Bengal defence was slow to react and an alert Ranty would score off a pass from Peter Carvalho.

It was 3-1 after only 49 minutes and East Bengal didn't really look as threathening as in the past few months as only a shot from substitute striker Tolgey Ozbey would worry Dempo keeper Laxmikant Kattimani. It stayed 3-1 for Dempo, who will take this win into the I-League starting in a couple of days. On the other side it will be interesting to see how Trevor Morgan's boys react to the second loss of the season ahead of the main aim, the I-League.


MATCH STATS

Dempo SC: 33-Laxmikant Kattimani; 5-Marcus Peixito, 3-John Charles Dias, 23-Dominic Noronha, 2-Debabrata Roy; 6-Peter Carvalho, 12-Ogba Kalu Nanna (20-Micky Fernandes), 22-Nicolau Borges, 30-Joe Rodrigues, 9-Ranty Martins Soleye, 29-Clifton Gonsalves (7-Godwin Diego Franco)
Substitutes: 21-Luis Xavier Barreto, 19-Johnny D'Cruz, 26-Covan Lawrence, 27-Cavin Lobo, 43-Jessel Carneiro

East Bengal Club: 31-Jayanta Pal; 33-Saikat Saha Roy (8-Thokchom Naoba Singh), 16-Gurwinder Singh, 5-Sunil Kumar Thakur, 2-Ravinder Singh; 11-Sanju Pradhan, 14-Mehtab Hussain, 17-Sushanth Mathew, 18-Penn Ikechukwu Orji (46' 9-Alvito D'Cunha); 23-Robin Singh, 35-Budhiram Tudu (46' 20-Tolgey Ozbey)
Substitutes: 24-Sandip Nandy, 27-Beingaichho Beokhokhai, 29-Soumik Dey, 37-Rajib Ghosh

Referee: Bikramjit Puryakastha (Delhi)
Assistant Referees: Deepak Singh (Delhi), Mohammed Kamil (Delhi)
Fourth Official: A. Rowan (Services)
Match Commissioner: J. Ravishankar (Delhi)

Super Cup: An interesting game on the cards

The Indian football season proper is finally set to kick-off with the Indian Super Cup to be played later today at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Gurgaon. The match will see I-League champions Dempo Sports Club from Goa taking on Kolkata's East Bengal Club, who about a couple of months back had been crowned Federation Cup champions.

This year the Super Cup isn't the season ending match as it has been in the last few years, but it is the curtain raiser for the I-League which opens on Friday. The match will kick-off at 17.30 IST in Gurgaon and will be shown live by Bengali news channel 24 Ghanta.

An interesting match is on the cards. Armando Colaco's Dempo will want to show East Bengal that they are still the best team in India, while the red-and-gold will want to continue their great run from the Calcutta Premier Division and the Federation Cup to win their third title of the season.

Dempo will once more hope that Roberto Mendes Silva and Ranty Martins Soleye deliver for the Goans as numerous of their regular players like Anthony Pereira, Climax Lawrence, Mahesh Gawli and others are away on India duty. But it also gives younger players and new signings a chance to shine on the national stage.

Federation Cup champions East Bengal have named a 16 member squad for the Indian Super Cup match, but the Kolkata giants will miss the services of Australian Tolgay Ozbey due to injury. And that could hamper the red-and-gold in their quest for a third Super Cup title.


East Bengal Club - Squad

Goalkeepers: Jayanta Pal, Sandip Nandy; Defenders: Saikat Saha Roy, Naoba Singh, Uga Okpara, Gurwinder Singh, Sunil Kumar Thakur, Ravinder Singh, Soumik Dey; Midfielders: Harmanjot Singh Khabra, Mehtab Hossain, Penn Ikechukwu Orji, Beingaichho Beokhokhai, Alvito D'Cunha; Forwards: Robin Singh, Budhiram Tudu. Coach: Trevor Morgan.