67th Santosh Trophy: Himachal Pradesh's final 20 players squad!

The Himachal Pradesh Football Association has named their final 19 players squad for the 67th edition of the National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy which is being played from February 1 to March 3 in Kerala and Uttar Pradesh.

Himachal Pradesh have been drawn in a for them tough Cluster B alongside Karnataka, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar and Daman&Diu with only one team to move on from the group. The matches in Cluster B to be played in Kollam, Kerala will be held from today onwards.


HIMACHAL PRADESH

Ranveer Singh, Shashi Kumar, Anil Dutta, Mohit Rana, Manoj Kumar, Ganesh Mohan, Kuldeep Mashi, Dheeraj Sharma, Kulbir Singh, Chandan Kumar, Vikrant Rana, Mohit Saini, Sachin Kapoor, Gopal, Gurpal Singh, Nitesh Sharma, Suraj, Akshay Acharya, Ajainder Negi

Elections held at Himachal Pradesh Football Association

The Himachal Pradesh Football Association held its General Elections at the Peterhof hotel in the state capital Shimla in which Amit Pal, the OSD of the Himachal Pradesh State Chief Minister was elected as the new HPFA president.

Deepak Sharma was reelected as General Secretary of the HPFA, while Naresh Rana was elected as treasurer of the state football association.

The HPFA general elections were uneventful, then those elected were elected unopposed and they were given big support by the members of the state body, while the districts football associations gave big support to the new president Amit Pal and General Secretary Deepak Sharma.

Mohun Bagan U-14s winners of HP Youth Football Festival Trophy!

The first-ever 'ONGC' Himachal Pradesh Football Festival concluded yesterday with the Mohun Bagan Under-14 boys lifting the trophy in the presence of chief guest Dr. Rajiv Bindal, the General Secretary of the state BJP.

The final played under floodlights at Nahan Chaugan had a capacity crowd watching the fierce battle between Mohun Bagan AC and Odisha's Sambalpur Football Academy where the Bengal side triumphed by a 2-0 margin.

With both the teams matching each other in terms of skills and strength, the competition was fierce with both sides playing an attacking game. Satyajit Roy scored first for the young Mariners in the 30th minute to give them an edge at the break.

The change of end saw the game getting more physical with Sambalpur pushing hard for an equalizer. In the process, the Odisha side had one of its player sent-off to reduce them to 10 men. Taking advantage of the gap on the left flank, Deepankar ran across two defenders and sent in a perfect cross for Ferozuddin Mollah to slot in the second goal in the 67th minute.

Prior to the kick-off, the chief guest in his speech encourage the kids of Himachal Pradesh to take interest in the game of football as it helps the children to understand the importance of hard work and team spirit.

Mr. Bindal also said, "Himachal has taken giant strides in improving its football in a very short span of time. But the good work has to be continued as the mission has not been achieved yet. The road ahead is still very long."

He also added, "The Government is also doing everything possible to make Himachal a strong sporting state with the calibre to produce international athletes of all kinds."

To encourage people, he also reminded them about the 3 percent quota for sports persons in Government jobs.

Early in the evening famous football juggler Uttam Das treated Nahan with a rare sight of football magic. He rode around Nahan on a bike, balancing a football over his head and then he showed some of his juggling skills to mesmerize the people of Nahan.

HP Youth Football Festival: Sirmour Blue Win the State Championship!

Sirmour Blue lifted the Himachal Pradesh State Under-14 Championship trophy having defeated SAI Football Academy, Kangra 2-0 in Nahan today. In the final, Amit scored both the goals for the hosts, penetrating the SAI defence in the 4th minute to give his side the lead and doubling the score in the 20th minute.

Earlier in the semifinals played in the morning, SAI Kangra defeated DFA Solan 4-0 to set up the final against host Sirmour Blue, who defeated DPS Solan 4-2.

Meanwhile Mohun Bagan and Sambalpur Football Academy registered a one goal win each to take on each other in the submit clash of the 1st ONGC Himachal Pradesh Youth Football Festival at Nahan today.

Mohun Bagan overcame Mahilpur Football Academy in a heavily contested first semifinal by a solitary goal off Deepankar in the 45th minute of the game. With the battle restricted to the midfield, with physical strength taking over skills, both the team created few chances between them. However towards the end the Punjab side went all-out in attack with the Bengal youngsters forced back into defence.

In the second semifinal, Sambalpur Football Academy won by the same margin to deny an all-Kolkata final when they defeated Prayag United SC. Doman Marandi scored just at the stroke of the half-time to give his side the numerical as well as the psychological edge.

The second half produced some attacking football from both sides., but the athletic goalkeepers prevented any further damages as Sambalpur Football Academy reached the finals.

HP Youth Football Festival - Stage set for exciting semifinals!

Mahilpur Football Academy, Punjab and Prayag United SC continued their good run in the 'ONGC' Himachal Pradesh Youth Football Festival and booked their berth in the semifinals alongside Mohun Bagan AC and Sambalpur Football Academy.

The semifinals to be played tomorrow will see red hot Mohun Bagan AC taking on Mahilpur Football Academy while Sambalpur Football Academy will face Prayag United SC. The winners of the semifinals will play the final match under floodlights tomorrow itself.

Sunday will also witness the four local teams, who have qualified for the tournament, playing for the Himachal Pradesh Under-14 Championship title. In the first semifinal, SAI FA will take on DFA Solan. And in the second semifinal, DPS Solan will play DFA Sirmour. The winners will play for the title in the evening.

In late evening matches on Friday, the Punjab side once again demolished their opponents, this time DFA Solan by 5-0 before Prayag United overcame host DFA Sirmour 3-1. With both the teams having won two of their matches, they qualified for the semifinals.

Harpreet scored the first goal of the evening in the 7th minute before Baljeet doubled it in the 14th minute. The local side was giving them stiff resistance till the dying minutes before they came all out attacking. In the process they were caught on the counter and the visitors pumped in three more goals to give the scoreline an clear look. Rajveer, Jaswinder and Kamaljeet were the scorers.

Meanwhile, Prayag United, who were expected to have an easy game came in for a rude shock when the hosts held them goalless at half-time. But after the break they regrouped well as Pradeep scored off a long-ranger. Sujay Rawat doubled the score in the 50th minute before Sanjeev Bhatta killed the match in the 62nd minutes. Vivek got the consolation goal for the host in the 69th minute.

Meanwhile in today's matches, which were of little consequence, Calicut Football Academy and SAI Kangra played out a 2-2 draw. Sujeen gave the Kangra team the lead in the 18th minute before Calicut replied with a quick brace in the form of Leon Augustine (26th) and Angle R. Bao (27th). Rohit however restored parity in the 40th minute.

In the second match of the day played between Yamunanagar Football Academy and DPS Solan, Rahul scored the sole goal of the match to give Yamunanagar Football Academy the victory.

HP Youth Football Festival: Mohun Bagan & Sambhalpur make the Semis!

The Under-14 boys of Mohun Bagan AC and Sambalpur Football Academy confirmed their places in the semifinals in the 1st 'ONGC' Himachal Pradesh Youth Football Festival with both registering comfortable wins on Friday at the Chaugan ground, Nahan. Mohun Bagan AC thrashed SAI Football Academy, Kangra by 13-0 while Sambhalpur FA defeated DPS Solan 3-0.

For Mohun Bagan, Satyajit Roy bagged a hattrick as he pumped in four goals, three of them coming in a span of 10 minutes. Deepankar scored another four goals today to take his overall tally to eight while Ferozuddin Mollah took his tally to six by scoring three goals today. Sanchayan and Mahadev also got their name onto the score sheet.

For the Odisha side, who were given a tough fight by DPS Solan, Sukhlal Basra opened their account in the 9th minute before Kamaljeet doubled it in the 25th minute. The second half saw Sukhlal adding one more to take his overall tally to four goals in the tournament.

On Thursday, Prayag United SC also started their campaign on a thumping note, trouncing Dynamic Soccer Academy, Jhanda Sahib 6-0. Vivek Paul and Subroto Mall scored a brace in the first half and the second half respectively while Surjit Barman and Sandeep scored one each in each half.

However, Pune FC had a disappointing start as they succumbed to 0-5 defeat against Mahilpur Football Academy, Punjab under floodlights. Sanjay made it 1-0 just at the stroke of half-time. But after the lemon break, the Punjab team came all out attacking with Gurpreet scoring the second goal in the 34th minute before Sanjay got his second goal. In the dying minutes, Jitender scored a brace to make the scoreline a rather surprising 5-0 against Pune FC.

On Saturday, Calicut Football Academy will meet SAI Kangra in the first round while Yamuna Nagar FA and DPS Solan will face off post lunch. In the evening, Pune FC will play DFA Solan as the floodlight match has been reserved for the host DFA Sirmour and Dynamic Soccer Academy.

HP Youth Football Festival - Mohun Bagan & Sambalpur score big wins!

The Under-14 boys of Mohun Bagan AC and Sambalpur Football Academy from Odisha kicked off their campaigns in style in the 1st 'ONGC' Himachal Pradesh Youth Football Festival. The people in the host city of Nahan were treated with great football when Mohun Bagan thrashed Calicut Football Academy 9-0 in a Group A match. If that was not enough, Sambhalpur Football Academy provided even more to cheer when they pumped in 13 goals against Yamunanagar Football Academy from Haryana in a Group B encounter.

Ferozuddin Mollah opened the scoring for Mohun Bagan early in the 3rd minute when he slotted in a Deepankar cross from the left. The duo scored seven goals between them - Deepankar scoring 4 goals (14th, 18th, 59th, 80th) while Ferozuddin scoring (3rd, 57th, 72nd). Sanchayan and Arghadeep scored the two other goals.

For the Odisha side, Vishnu opened the floodgates in the 6th minute as he went on to score three goals. Shaw and Sukhlal scored a brace with each goal of them coming within a minute of each other. Chandan, Damain, Rajouram, Sanjaya, Wahid and Kamaljeet also got their name in the scorers' list.

The four local teams that qualified for the main phase of the tournament are SAI Football Academy Kangra, DPS Solan, DFA Solan and host DFA Sirmour.

SAI Kangra are clubbed with Mohun Bagan and Calicut Football Academy in Group A while DPS Solan have Sambalpur Football Academy and Yamunanagar Football Academy in Group B.

Group C have DFA Solan along with Mahilpur Football Academy and Pune FC while host DFA Sirmour are clubbed in Group D with Prayag United SC and Dynamic Soccer Academy from Jandha Sahib.

On Friday, all the local teams will be action with SAI Kangra taking on Mohun Bagan in the first match of the day at 11 AM. DPS Solan will face Sambalpur in the second match at 2.30 PM while the third round will see DFA Solan facing Mahilpur at 5 PM. In the last match of the day to be played under floodlights at 7 PM, host DFA Sirmour will lock horns with Prayag United SC.

Himachal Pradesh Youth Football Festival - Day 2

After the perfect opening ceremony yesterday, the 'ONGC' Himachal Pradesh Youth Football Festival had a splendid second day with an attractive brand of football being played out by teams participating from all over the state.

The day started on a high note with DFA Solan thrashing DFA Kangra 7-0. Luv Preet hit the back of the net three times in the space of only five minutes, getting the first hattrick of the festival. Debakar opened the scoring as early as the second minute before Sudhir hit a brace in the 14th and 24th minutes and the win was rounded-off by Jaspreet's goal in the 43rd minute of the game.

However, the Solan team bowed out of the tournament in a hard fought second round match against DFA Una. After the scoreline was locked at 1-1 at the end of the stipulated 60 minutes, the winner was decided through tie-breakers where Una defeated Solan 4-2.

Meanwhile SAI Kangra entered the main phase of the tournament where they will battle it out for the trophy with top teams from other states. After defeating DFA Mandi 5-2 in the morning, they beat the host Sirmour Red 2-0. In the morning Chander scored three and added two more in evening against the host to take his tally to five goals. Sajan and Himanshu scored the two other goals in their 5-2 win against DFA Mandi.

Meanwhile the match between Pinegrow School, Solan and DFA Hamirpur turned out to be the most intensive match of the day with the former losing out by a goal. Ishant Rana was the hero for the Hamirpur side scoring in the 40th minute.

The two other matches of the day turned out to be one-sided affairs where the hosts' second team, Sirmour Blue, thrashed DFA Kirnuor 9-0 while Dharamshala Football Academy thrashed DFA Shimla 6-0. For Sirmour, Amit scored three goals, Ranjan and Kapil scored two each while Vivek and Vikram scored the others goals.

For Dharamshala Deepak was the star performer who pumped in three goals while Abhilakshya scored a brace and Mayukh the other goal.

With three other teams from the state to be decided later, the main phase of the tournament will kick off tomorrow where four state teams will rub shoulders with youth teams from other parts of the country.

Himachal Pradesh Youth Football Festival from tomorrow

The 'ONGC' Himachal Pradesh Youth Football Festival will be played from tomorrow until September 10 in the beautiful H.P. hill-top town of Nahan. The tournament organised by the Himachal Pradesh Football Association will see a total of 24 teams of Under-14 boys play for the title.

In the first round 17 local teams from across Himachal Pradesh will play in a knockout format with four teams making it to the next round. In that next round 11 teams, four local and seven outstation teams which will include Mohun Bagan AC, Prayag United SC and Pune FC, will be divided into four groups. The group winners would progress to the semifinals and the winner of that will play in the final.

The organisation of this under-14 youth football festival is the brain child of Himachal Pradesh Football Association secretary Deepak Sharma, who is working to develop football in the Himalayan state.

The opening ceremony of the event will have HPFA president Sanjeev Katwal as the chief guest. In addition to that, Himachal Pradesh women's team would play an exhibition match with the women's team of Tibetan Sports Association.

During the course of the event, the final of the Himachal Pradesh Inter-District Championship will also be played, date for which will be announced later on.

However, the best has been reserved for the last day, when apart from the final match, the famous juggler, Uttam Das, would come over from Kolkata to mesmerize the crowd with his stunning antics. Rajeev Bindal, MLA from Solan, would grace the closing ceremony as the chief guest.

Himachal Pradesh to organise Under-18 Football League

The Himachal Pradesh Football Association is working towards spreading the game across the North India state. The state capital Shimla used to be a major football hub with the Durand Cup, India's oldest football tournament, started there in 1888 and even the All India Football Federation founded there 75 years ago, yesterday to the day.

Today Himachal Pradesh is a small football state with the Himachal Pradesh FA fighting to organise and run football in the state. Funds like in other smaller football states is often a problem.

Now the HPFA is set to once more organise the Sub-Division Under-18 Football League from July 12 to August 14, 2012. More then 600 teams with over 8000 players are set to take part across the states 12 districts.

The HPFA hopes to organise the tournament in a big way, but is on the lookout for sponsorship and support then otherwise it is very difficult for the state football association to organise such a mammoth league across all districts of the state.

If interested to help the Himachal Pradesh Football Association, then either get in touch with them directly or contact me and I will put you through to them.

66th Santosh Trophy: Himachal Pradesh ready for action

The Himachal Pradesh Football Association has named their final 20 players squad for the 66th edition of the National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy which is being played since May 11 until May 27 across Orissa. The Himachal Pradesh team held a camp in Patiala to prepare for the tournament.

Himachal Pradesh FA under president Sanjeev Katwal, Selector Vijay Shamsher Bhandari, Cashier Naresh Rana and General Secretary Deepak Sharma have given moral support for their state team and are hoping for a positive result though it will be tough for them.

Sudhir B.T. has been named state coach with Himachal Pradesh ready for their Cluster II campaign in Cuttack in which they later today face Tripura and then the group favourites Kerala on May 15.


HIMACHAL PRADESH

Players
Vijander Singh, Ravinder, Chirag, Mohit Saini, Anil Kumar Dutta, Dinesh, Deeraj Sharma, Sashi Kumar, Mukesh Nithani, Dinesh Kumar, Vikas Perdhan, Pawan Thakur, Mazer Ali, Talvinder Singh, Gagandeep, Amit Thakur, Umesh, Rakesh, Anuj Ahir, Chanden Kumar Rahul Dutta

Officials
Sudhir B.T. (Coach), Vikrem Bisht (Assistant Coach), Amit Dutta (Manager)