Photos: Subrata Pal's training with RB Leipzig

I was with my friend and colleague Chris Punnakkattu Daniel on Wednesday/Thurday in Leipzig to watch Subrata Pal in action at his trial-cum-training with RB Leipzig here in Germany. Here some further photos...

The two week trial-cum-training trip to Germany has been made possible by the Indian division of Red Bull, who are the owners of RB Leipzig and who have signed a one year deal with Subrata Pal to help develop the goalkeeper further with his career.


Please LIKE www.facebook.com/arunfoot & follow @Arunfoot on Twitter to get further updates on Subrata Pal's trial in Germany along with further news on what the other Indian footballers and Players of Indian origin are doing in Europe!

Photos: Subrata Pal in training with RB Leipzig

Since yesterday I am with my friend and colleague Chris Punnakkattu Daniel in Leipzig to watch Subrata Pal in action at his trial-cum-training with RB Leipzig here in Germany. Here some photos...

The two week trial-cum-training trip to Germany has been made possible by the Indian division of Red Bull, who are the owners of RB Leipzig and who have signed a one year deal with Subrata Pal to help develop the goalkeeper further with his career.


Please LIKE www.facebook.com/arunfoot & follow @Arunfoot on Twitter to get further updates on Subrata Pal's trial in Germany along with further news on what the other Indian footballers and Players of Indian origin are doing in Europe!

Subrata Pal's tough training stint with RB Leipzig!

Indian international and Prayag United SC goalkeeper Subrata Pal has now enjoyed the first few days of practice with the RB Leipzig senior team after having earlier trained with their Under-23 team.

The German fourth Division (Regionalliga Nordost) side RB Leipzig were away in Austria until Wednesday last week for their pre-season conditioning camp and since Friday Subrata Pal has been training with the senior team under the guidance of goalkeeper coach Perry Bräutigam, a former East Germany international goalkeeper.

Subrata is enjoying every moment of his stint with RB leipzig as he reiterates the great facilities, organisation and the whole surroundings. The goalkeeping practice under Bräutigam is demanding and he is learning new methods of training while in germany.

At the club Subrata is training with their goalkeepers, Swiss national Fabio Coltorti besides youngsters Andreas Kerner and Benjamin Bellot. Especially the 1.97 m Coltorti has impressed Subrata, who has played four years in the Spanish La Liga with Racing Santander besides Swiss giants Grasshopper Zurich and other clubs at home.

Subrata believes if given a chance he could play in Germany's fourth division though physically it would be a challenge for him with most goalkeepers taller and stronger then him. But those who know Subrata will know, he is up for a challenge.

The two week trial-cum-training trip to Germany has been made possible by the Indian division of Red Bull, who are the owners of RB Leipzig and who have signed a one year deal with Subrata Pal to help develop the goalkeeper further with his career.


Please LIKE www.facebook.com/arunfoot & follow @Arunfoot on Twitter to get further updates on Subrata Pal's trial in Germany along with further news on what the other Indian footballers and Players of Indian origin are doing in Europe!

Some facts about Germany's 4th Division (Regionalliga)

A lot of people in India have had options about the German fourth Division (Regionalliga) since it came out earlier this week that Indian international goalkeeper Subrata Pal would be having a trial-cum-training stint with RB Leipzig. And sadly there has been a lot of misconceptions/misunderstanding about the level of football in Germany's fourth division, which most will not have seen in action.

Therefore I try to give you some information and insight about the Regionalliga, now that Subrata Pal has arrived in Germany...

The Fußball-Regionalliga is the fourth tier of football within the German football league system. From this season, 2012/13, onwards there are five different leagues which make-up the Regionalliga - North, Northeast, West, Southwest and Bavaria. Until last season there were only three Regionalliga's.

Though now having five different leagues only three teams will get promoted to the 3.Liga, which means the five champions and the winner amongst the runners-up Southwest/Bavaria will have to play a playoff to determine the three promotion spots.

The Regionalliga as such is a semi-professional league though many of its top teams are professional football clubs, who have budgets running in the millions of Euros with the aim of getting promoted to the 3.Liga (3rd Division). Further these Regionalliga's are not centrally managed by the German FA (DFB), but by the state and regional football associations.

The newly formed Regionalliga Nordost (Northeast), in which RB Leipzig will play this season, is made-up of teams from the states of Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony and Thuringia.

RB Leipzig go into the season as the top favourites to win the title in the Northeast division as the Red Bull backed side are said to have the biggest budget across all Regionalliga teams, which clearly shows their intentions of getting promoted after two failed attempts.

And coming to talk about the standard. I personally feel it is higher then the overall I-League with better infrastructure and competitiveness, and all this would be a good platform for Subrata to first prove himself and then play in a higher league, if he succeeds.