VIDEO: Karim, Chidi & Alvito jointly release Year Book

At the Kolkata Book Fair 2013, Mohun Bagan coach Karim Bencharifa came together with East Bengal's Chidi Edeh and Alvito D'Cunha to launch a Year Book on football. Some might be surprised, but days before the next derby on Saturday the trio sat together on stage, shared a light moment with each other and spoke most likely about football in a very friendly atmosphere.

VIDEO: Karim Bencharifa's Coach Speak (ARS Series)

Salgaocar SC's successful coach Karim Bencherifa talks about what qualities coaches look for in young budding footballers at youth camps like the Airtel Rising Stars.

Salgaocar FC name preliminary 34th Federation Cup squad

Defending champions Salgaocar FC have named a 25 players strong preliminary squad ahead of 34th Federation Cup in which the Goans have been drawn in Group D along with Pune FC, Prayag United SC and United Sikkim FC and will play in Jamshedpur.

Salgaocar SC open their campaign against Prayag United SC (September 20), then face newcomers United Sikkim FC (September 22) and play their final group game against Pune FC (September 24).

Salgaocar coach Karim Bencharifa talkin about his teams group said, "Prayag United is the hot team at the moment because of their high budget and the star players they have recruited this year. We did play Pune FC in a friendly match and we could see their strength. Plus United Sikkim is the dark horse of the group as they are very unknown to us and that is what will make them dangerous and unpredictable."


SALGAOCAR FOOTBALL CLUB

Goalkeepers
Karanjit Singh, Vinay Singh, Pawan Kumar

Defenders
Luciano Sobrosa, Rahul Kumar, Collin Abranches, Nicolau Colaco, Augustinho Fernandes, Karan Atwal

Midfielders
Rocus Lamare, Quinton Jacobs, Randeep Singh, Royston D'Souza, Gilbert Olivera, Rosario Mendes, Francis Fernandes, Beevan D'Mello, Anthony D'Souza, Fulganco Cardozo, Brian Mascarenhas

Forwards
Sean Daniel Rooney, Ángel Guirado Aldegue, Milagres Gonsalves, Mohammad Dada Nabeel, Sandesh Gadkari

Officials
Karim Bencherifa (Head Coach), Sanjiv Nagvekar (Manager), Peter Vales (Assistant Coach), Virender Singh (Goalkeeper Coach), J. Dilip Kumar (Physio)

Salgaocar SC sign striker Ángel Guirado Aldeguer

The Spanish-Filipino striker Ángel Guirado Aldeguer has been signed by Goan giants Salgaocar SC on a one year contract for the 2012/13 season. The signing of Guirado comes only days after Salgaocar's signed Australian striker Sean Rooney .

27 year old Málaga-born Philippines international striker Guirado was in the youth team of Málaga CF before playing for numerous Spanish lower division clubs like CE Mataró, Córdoba CF and Atlético Madrid B before joining Deportivo de La Coruña but again only played for their reserves before being loaned to UD Vecindario and CD Lugo. Thereafter he played for Levante B, Santa Eulalia, Estepona, El Palo and CD Ronda before spending the last season at Global FC in the Philippines.

Coach Karim said about his latest signing, "Ángel is a tall player with good physical presence and competent skills; he will give me lot of options as a striker."

Salgaocar SC let a lot of their star players, who were involved in winning the 2010/11 I-League title, leave over the summer and coach Karim Bencharifa mainly signing talented youngsters. Now the addition of Guirado and Rooney to the roaster adds firepower upfront for the Goans.

Surely a lot would be expected from the 190 cms tall striker, especially goals.

With the signing of Guirado the club is releasing another striker in Nigerian Abdullah Hamza Amaba, who had only been signed in the summer from HAL SC but was not found fit for the ambitions of the Goan club.

Salgaocar SC announce squad for 2012/13 season

Goan giants Salgaocar SC have finalised their squad for the 2012/13 season. There is some fluctuation in the squad as some of the teams star players were released due to too high financial demands, while new talented youngsters have replaced them.

Coach Karim Bencharifa speaking about his new squad said, "One must know that it's not an easy task to assemble a good squad for two main reasons. Firstly one must keep within the Club’s budget; secondly the pool of quality players is very limited which mean that there are limited options in the market. So our strategy was to look for players who will fit well into our system and our budget, the main criteria for selection was talent and hunger. Two categories of players fit into this plan; experienced players who do not have many options but want to prove themselves or young players who are looking for a chance to shine."

Amongst those release were three of the four foreigners in Ryuji Sueoka, Chidi Edeh and Maxime Belouet with only Brazilian centre-back Luciano Sabrosa retained. The club has brought in Namibian playmaker Quinton Norman Jacobs from United Sikkim FC and African striker Abdullah Hamza Amaba from HAL.

"Maybe we can't afford to sign stars but we are definitely a club which makes stars. We did it with the likes of Khelemba, Tomba, Jaspal, Sueoka who came to Salgaocar as low profile signings and now they are star signings for other clubs," Karim added.


SALGAOCAR SC - 2012/13 Squad

Goalkeepers
Karanjit Singh, Vinay Singh, Pawan Kumar (Air India)

Defenders
Royston D'Souza (Air India), Collin Abranches (Air India), Nicolau Colaco, Luciano Sabrosa, Augostinho Fernandes, Karan Atwal (United Sikkim FC), Biswajit Saha, Rahul Kumar

Midfielders
Keegan Pereira (Mumbai FC), Bijay Baspore (Air India), Karan Sawhney (Tata Football Academy), Rocus Lamare, Quinton Norman Jacobs (United Sikkim FC), Randeep Singh, Cajetan Fernandes, Anthony Barbosa, Beevan D'Mello, Gilbert Oliveira, Francis Fernandes, , Chhangte Malswamkima (Mumbai FC), Kshetrimayum Malamnganba Meitei (HAL SC), Angelo D'Souza (Sporting Clube de Goa), Brian Mascarenhas (Dempo SC), Presley Mascarenhas, Aliston Fernandes, Roy Rodrigues, Godfrey Silva

Forwards
Abdullah Hamza Amaba (HAL SC), Sandesh Gadkare (Air India), Balwant Singh, Mohammad Dada Nabeel, Milagres Gonsalves, Marcus Mascarenhas, Thounaojam Dinesh Singh, Clifton Dias, Rosario Mendes

Youth Players intergrated into Senior team

Albino Gomes, Allwyn Fernandes, Aslon Oliveira, Jos Joquim Vaz, Melwin Fernandes (all Salgaocar Under-20), N. Tomarjit Singh (NEROCA, Manipur), P. Kishan Singh (SAIL Football Academy)


Players Released
Jaspal Singh Parmar, Ishfaq Ahmed, Chidi Edeh (all East Bengal Club), Irungbam Khelemba Singh, Mehrajuddin Wadoo (both Mohun Bagan AC), Ryuji Sueoka (Dempo SC), W. Tomba Singh (Churchill Brothers SC), Macklas Moraes, Rino Anto, Keenan Almeida, Bobbychan Singh, Gagandeep Singh, Vivek Singh Kaira, Karthik Kisku, Maxime Belouet

AFC Cup: Should Indian clubs play in the East Zone?

Salgaocar SC coach Karim Bencharifa made a point post the AFC Cup match against Al-Wehdat about the fact that Indian clubs should be grouped with clubs in East rather then West Asia in the AFC Cup, Asia's second tier continental club championship.

Karim had told the Times of India, "It just does not make sense for us to be paired with strong clubs from the West (of Asia). We all know that these clubs are both extremely powerful, both in terms of physique and financial muscle and it becomes difficult to match them. India will continue to struggle against clubs from the West and Middle-East.

"For the growth of Indian football, a mechanism must be put in place where Indian clubs are placed in the East group. Indian clubs should be competing with clubs from Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and, at times, even Thailand which has some strong clubs," Karim had added.

Karim surely has a point here! The teams in West Asia are moving faster on the track of professionalization then Indian clubs, but a few years ago Indian clubs were competitive in the West Zone of the AFC Cup. Now except a match here or there, this looks very unlikely.

But there is also a counter example in East Bengal Club last season who finished bottom of their AFC Cup group which included Chonburi FC (Thailand), Persipura Jayapura (Indonesia) and South China FC (Hongkong). The red-and-gold did draw all their home matches, but lost all their away games.

I also feel Indian clubs would gain in being in the East Zone of the AFC Cup, but it is also an issue of scheduling then the AFC club competitions - AFC Champions League, AFC Cup - are played across a calendar year; while most leagues season run from August/September to May. With the AFC Cup group stage mainly played in March, April and May; it is towards the end of the Indian season with clubs fighting for the title and positions while players are negotiating new contracts.

3rd FPAI Awards held last night, the winners are...

The 3rd edition of the Indian Football Awards organised by the Football Players Association of India (FPAI) was held at the ITC Sonar in Kolkata last night. The big winner of the awards was Mehtab Hossain, who was named 'Indian Player of the Year' and he also won the 'Fans Player of the Year' award.

The gala evening was hosted by Mayanti Langer with the Governor of West Bengal M.K. Narayanan being the chief guest of the event with Bollywood/Tollywood stars like Raima Sen, Rituparna Sengupta and Swastika Mukherjee attending besides Indian Tennis legend Leander Paes. Attending from the football field where AIFF Vice-President Subrata Datta, Churchill Brothers supremo Churchill Alemao, Lajong General Secretary Larsing Ming, Mohammedan Sporting Club president Sultan Ahmed and others.

The evening was opened by striker Sunil Chhetri in the absence of Baichung Bhutia, who is currently in Sikkim to help with the rehabilitation work in his home state after the shocking earthquake. And in honour of those killed a minute of silence was observed which was followed by a speech from M.K. Narayanan.

The first announcement of the night was made about the FPAI Team of the Year which included Subrata Pal; Thokchom Naoba Singh, Mahesh Gawli, Uga Okpara, Syed Rahim Nabi; Steven Benedic Dias, Ryuji Sueoka, Mehtab Hossain, Lenny Rodrigues; Roberto Mendes Silva, Odafe Onyeka Okolie. These eleven where chosen by their peers.

The first award of the night was for the Best Foreign Player of the Year which Brazilian Roberto Mendes Silva received from actress Rituparna Sengupta and IMG-Reliance's Ashu Jindal. The Best Coach of the Year award was handed over by Sultan Ahmed to Salgaocar's Karim Bencharifa who surprised everyone by winning the I-League title last season. Then Sunil Chhetri was felicitated by the FPAI for receiving the prestigious Arjuna Award by Larsing Ming and former international Sumit Mukherjee.

Then India's representative at the 2011 Homeless World Cup from Slum Soccer spoke about their experiences in Paris and a video was shown to the audience to highlight what football means to them in their lives.

The next award was the Fans Indian Player at the 2011 AFC Asian Cup and the award went to India goalkeeper Subrata Pal. The following award was handed over by Apurba Saha from the Pailan Group for the Best Young Player and it went to Jeje Lalpekhlua, but he wasn't there to receive his award. The same is sadly the case for Baichung Bhutia, whose special award is accepted on his behalf by Jose Ramirez Barreto. Now it was the turn of the 'Fans Player of the Year' award and went to Mehtab Hossain, while the final award of the night, the Best Indian Player of the Year, was handed over by Subrata Dutta and Leander Paes to Mehtab Hossain.

There was entertainment during the evening from Sanjeev & Sandip Vyas, a fashion show involving footballers and an auction of a Baichung Bhutia India jersey for the earthquake victims and that went for Rs 50,000 to Churchill Alemao.


This Years Winners

FPAI Team of the Year
Subrata Pal (Pune FC), Thokchom Naoba Singh (Churchill Brothers SC/East Bengal Club), Mahesh Gawli (Dempo SC), Uga Okpara (East Bengal Club), Syed Rahim Nabi (East Bengal Club/Mohun Bagan AC), Steven Benedic Dias (Churchill Brothers SC), Ryuji Sueoka (Salgaocar SC), Mehtab Hossain (East Bengal Club), Lenny Rodrigues (Churchill Brothers SC), Roberto Mendes Silva (Dempo SC/Churchill Brothers SC), Odafe Onyeka Okolie (Churchill Brothers SC/Mohun Bagan AC)

Fans Indian Player at the 2011 AFC Asian Cup
Subrata Pal (Pune FC)

Best Young Player
Jeje Lalpekhula (Indian Arrows/Pune FC)

Best Foreign Player
Roberto Mendes Silva (Dempo SC/Churchill Brothers SC)

Best Indian Player
Mehtab Hossain (East Bengal Club)

Best Coach
Karim Bencherifa (Salgaocar SC)

Fans Player of the Year
Mehtab Hossain (East Bengal Club)

A look back at the I-League season 2010/11

The I-League ended about three weeks ago, but still it is worth a look back on how the last season went...

The 4th fourth edition of the I-League came to an end on June 1 after one of the most interesting seasons in Indian football ever. In the end Salgaocar SC from Goa became the surprise champions while former National Football League winners JCT from Phagwara and Mumbai's ONGC went down to the second Division.

The I-League lasted for nearly six months, but the first couple of months were played without the 30 India players amongst coach Bob Houghton's probables for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup. This had effect on some teams who had numerous players at the camp.

Kolkata's East Bengal Club were the league's early pace setters as they won their first six matches and looked to be the team to beat as they came into the I-League having won the Calcutta Premier Division and Federation Cup titles. But a mid-season slump by the red-and-gold initially with numerous draws and then also defeats allowed Salgaocar SC to close in and then grab the top spot. Suddenly the Goans, who no one really considered as title contenders, where in the lead and until a few weeks before the end of the league it looked as if they could seal the title before the last match day; but losses to Air India, Dempo SC and Mumbai FC did make the title race interesting again, but they won their key match 3-2 against rival title contenders East Bengal Club after being 0-2 down and that match will have instilled enough confidence in the team to ensure that they do not allow the title to get out of their hands.

Salgaocar won their final game of the 2010/11 season against JCT in Ludhiana on May 30 to ensure that none of the other contenders could catch them. It is the first I-League title for Salgaocar's, but their second overall national league title as they had been champions of the old National Football League in the 1998/99 season under coach Shabbir Ali with players like Juje Siddi Roberto Fernandes, Derrick Pereira, Shanmugam Venkatesh, Jules Alberto, Alvito D'Cunha and the legendary Bruno Coutinho.

Now a new generation in green-and-white has created history led by their Moroccan coach Karim Bencharifa, his coaching staff, the club management and a young team led by the seasoned Yakubu Yusif from Ghana and Japanese recruit Ryuji Sueoka from the front. Salgaocar's strength has been the team with Karim able get the best out of his boys with players like Gilbert Oliveira, Cajetan Fernandes and other youngsters making their breakthrough as the team also had an able goalkeeper in Karanjit Singh at the back.

"This triumph means a lot to me, my players, staff and management. I would also like to dedicate this triumph to the Salgaocar fans. They were really behind us, especially at home and that helped us a lot," said an overjoyed Karim.

For Karim the title came in year five of his coaching stint in India. After two years with Churchill Brothers SC (2006-08), close to two years at Mohun Bagan (2008-10) and over a year at Salgaocar SC (2010 - ...), he has finally won the title on the third attempt. At all three clubs he has build teams from scratch and he did it around strong foreigners, seasoned locals and give young Indians a chance to launch their career.

While the young Salgaocar team was the positive surprise of the season there was also a negative highlight too, Dempo SC's 14-0 victory against Air India on the last match day. It is the biggest victory in the history of the league and as one would expect rumours of match fixing and other wrong doings did the rounds, but nothing was proven and the All India Football Federation did not order a probe.

What remains from the 2010/11 season is that it was a transition year towards the full professionalization of the I-League. It won't happen next season, but we are getting closer to see a fully professional league in India in the years to come.

Karim fulfils Indian Dream!

Moroccan Karim Bencharifa has finally fulfilled his dream of winning the I-League title with Salgaocar Sports Club! The Goans won their final game of the 2010/11 season against JCT in Ludhiana on May 30 to ensure that none of the other contenders could catch them.

What makes this title so special not only for Karim, but for the players and Salgaocar SC as a club is the fact that this is a team of mainly talented youngsters and an experienced bunch of foreigners in Brazilian Luciano Sabrosa, Japanese Ryuji Sueoka and Ghanian Yakubu Yusif.

"This triumph means a lot to me, my players, staff and management. I would also like to dedicate this triumph to the Salgaocar fans. They were really behind us, especially at home and that helped us a lot," said an overjoyed Karim.

For Karim the title came in year five of his coaching stint in India. After two years with Churchill Brothers SC (2006-08), close to two years at Mohun Bagan (2008-10) and over a year at Salgaocar SC (2010 - ...), he has finally won the title on the third attempt. At all three clubs he has build teams from scratch and he did it around strong foreigners, seasoned locals and give young Indians a chance to launch their career.

Be it Gouramangi Singh, Arindam Bhattacharya, Govin Singh at Churchill Brothers; Manish Maithani and others at Mohun Bagan, now Gilbert Oliveira, Cajetan Fernandes, Anthony Barbosa and Francis Fernandes at Salgaocar. Karim has the eye to pick young talent and give them playing time to prove their worth to him.

I remember a conversation we had in February 2011 in Kolkata. Karim said at the time his ambition was to finish amongst the top three this year and then challenge for the title next season. It seems he was beaten by his own plans.

My heartiest congratulations to my friend Karim! You deserve it...

Goa's Salgaocar SC are I-League champions!

Goa's Salgaocar Sports Club are the new champions of the I-League, India's Professional Football League! They won their final Round 26 league match 2-0 away to JCT in Ludhiana to move to 56 points from 26 matches and at least three points clear of their closest rivals Dempo SC and Churchill Brothers SC.

It is the first I-League title for Salgaocar's, but their second overall national league title as they had been champions of the old National Football League in the 1998/99 season under coach Shabbir Ali with players like Juje Siddi Roberto Fernandes, Derrick Pereira, Shanmugam Venkatesh, Jules Alberto, Alvito D'Cunha and the legendary Bruno Coutinho.

Now a new generation in green-and-white has created history led by their Moroccan coach Karim Bencharifa, his coaching staff, the club management and a young team led by the seasoned Yakubu Yusif from Ghana and Japanese recruit Ryuji Sueoka from the front. Salgaocar's strength has been the team with Karim able get the best out of his boys with players like Gilbert Oliveira, Cajetan Fernandes and other youngsters making their breakthrough as the team also had an able goalkeeper in Karanjit Singh at the back.

After East Bengal Club had been the initial pace setters in the 2010/11 I-League season, Salgaocar took over and until a few weeks before the end of the league it looked as if they could seal the title before the last match day; but losses to Air India, Dempo SC and Mumbai FC did make the title race interesting again, but they won their key match 3-2 against title contenders East Bengal Club after being 0-2 down and that match will have instilled enough confidence in the team to ensure that they do not allow the title to get out of their hands.

After the match Karim Bencharifa said, "We are officially the Champions. I knew we had almost won it. But with this victory, the Championship is officially ours!"

"I need to salute my players; I need to salute the support staff; I need to salute the management for their support. The team-spirit has been excellent," Karim added.