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.

WIFA to revive Rovers Cup in July/August 2013

The Western Indian Football Association (Maharashtra) is set to once more organise the Rovers Cup next year with the help of their new marketing partners Sporting Ace after years of trying to revive the tournament.

The last Rovers Cup had been held in December 2000/January 2001 with 14 time record champions Mohun Bagan AC winning the final 2-0 against Churchill Brothers SC through goals from Jayanta Sen and Dulal Biswas.

The Rovers Cup is being revived in 2013 with a record Rs 1 crore (10 Million) as prize money. The date is also set with the tournament slated to be played from July 27 to August 11, 2013 at the then refurbished Cooperage ground which is set to open by the end of this year.

The organisers are set to invite I-League sides and foreign teams for a new start to the once prestigious Rovers Cup.

WIFA signs Rs 100-crore deal with Sporting Ace to develop football in Maharashtra!

The Western Indian Football Association, who run and organise football in Maharashtra, has entered into a strategic partnership with Sporting Ace Private Limited (SAPL) and they have come-up with an ambitious and dynamic blueprint to develop and grow football in the state with development and promotion plans rolling out simultaneously in all the districts of Maharashtra.

This historic partnership between WIFA and SAPL will see an infusion of around Rs 100 crore (1 Billion) for a period of 10 years, with the funds being used to aggressively promote the sport at the grassroots level, grow the bank of young football players, increase the number of certified coaches, spread gratification in cash and kind, spread football to every nook and corner of the state, bring football of the highest standard through the revival and creation of aspirational tournaments and ensure that every youngster will have a realistic chance of reaching the pinnacle of the beautiful game.

The partnership was announced at a press conference in Mumbai today in the presence of WIFA Vice-Presidents – Dr. Vishwajeet Kadam, Maloji Raje Chatrapati, Liaiqaut Hussain and Sunil Dhande. Representing SAPL were Managing Director Sagar Pol Chowdhury plus Directors Zulfikar Mohammed and Kingshuk Gupta, while also present were WIFA Honorary Secretary Souter Vaz and WIFA CEO Henry Menezes.

The initiatives outlined under the partnership between WIFA and SAPL includes the biggest talent hunt in Asia, The Mahayudh - targeting over 5,000 teams and around 50,000 players from across Maharashtra, revival of the prestigious 122 year old Rovers Cup, besides aggressive programs for Coach and Referee education with the objective of creating 5,000 certified coaches and 1,000 certified referees within the next three years.

"Nearly one year of research and ideating with extensive fact-finding trips throughout the various affiliated districts, has been undertaken before both WIFA and SAPL came-up with a blue print that has been deemed to be achievable. Earlier while most development plans would revolve around the bigger cities, first-hand information has made it clear that football is very popular in all the districts of Maharashtra and enjoys a huge following amongst the younger generation. This interest only needs to be channelized in the right direction, with the best facilities and just rewards awaiting those who excel. This is what the partnership between WIFA and SAPL is confident of achieving," said Souter Vaz, WIFA Honorary Secretary.

"We believe in WIFA's vision and commitment towards developing and growing football in Maharashtra. A lot of man hours have gone into coming up with a vision that is definitely ambitious but at the same time realistic. At SAPL we are confident that this historic partnership will galvanise and inspire more and more youngsters to play the sport of football with much more passion and commitment as there is a bright future awaiting all those who share this vision," said Sagar Pol Chowdhury, Sporting Ace MD.

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.

AIFF-WIFA aim to train 5000 coaches in Maharashtra

The Western Indian Football Association, the Maharashtra state FA, in its centenary year has embarked on an ambitious program of producing 5000 AIFF certified coaches in the next three years, who will then train footballers at the grassroot level all over the state.

There are currently 30 districts affiliated to WIFA, with more than 2000 clubs, 1500 school teams and around 500 college teams playing the sport, however, the number of qualified AFC coaches in the state to that effect are only 55, which shows the huge disparity between the qualified coaches available and the football teams and players. Given the geographical spread of the state and huge population, added to the growing popularity of the sport, the need of the hour is for many more qualified coaches to work at the grass root level.

Hence a project plan to start another ladder for coaching was initiated by WIFA in consultation with the AIFF. A pilot project of the Coach Education Program for Grassroot level has been initiated in Maharashtra and on successful implementation it would then be taken to other states of India. Through this programme, AFC 'A' and 'B' licence coaches would become instructors and will be on the panel of the AIFF, in turn eligible to train and certify AIFF-certified coaches.

Gabriel Joseph, AIFF Director of Coaching, who will be conducting the programme, said that this Coach Education program for grassroot level is the brain child of the WIFA, CEO – Henry Menezes and it would be first of its kind conducted by AIFF. "The pilot project will first create a pool of instructors from the available AFC ‘A’ & ‘B’ license holders in the state. Thereon these successful instructors would be eligible to train coaches under them,” said Joseph.

"In the next five years, we hope to see Maharashtra as one of the top football playing states in the country, for which we need a strong base from which to pick and choose. This pilot project will help unearth quality coaches from among former players of repute, who would be then used to train youngsters at the grass root level," said WIFA CEO Henry Menezes.

"This project will also ensure that there will be uniformity in the coaching methods and standards used at the grass root level with periodic reviews and evaluations of the systems, being used," added Menezes.

Menezes felt that most of the coaches at the grassroot level were untrained, which was a matter of concern as it hindered the progress of footballers there as compared to the metros and bigger centres. The AIFF certified coaches coming out of this programme would ensure that the same coaching methods and systems would be available to football players in all districts of the state.

Currently 20 AFC 'A' and 'B' licence coaches have been selected for the pilot project, the names include Santosh Kashyap, Khalid Jamil, Godfrey Pereira, Yusuf Ansari, Arshad Hussein, Naushad Moosa, Augusto D'Silva and Aqueel Ansari. Four outstation coaches in William Koso (Nagaland), Ms. Maymol Rocky (Goa), Saji P.M, and Charles G.J. (both Kerala) are also attending the course. The 10-day coaching programme, which began on July 11, is being hosted by the Bombay Gymkhana at their premises, scheduled to conclude on July 20.

The daily programme involves practical classes in the morning and evening between 7.00 am and 9.30 am and 3.00 pm and 4.30 pm respectively interspersed with theory classes.

Star Impact has sponsored the kitting of the coaches and instructor, providing four sets of uniforms each, shoes and balls for the programme.

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.

State FA elections in Delhi & Maharashtra

The state football associations of Delhi and Maharashtra have held elections for their office bearers for a new four year term. The presidents in both state football associations were re-elected, while they both got new honorary secretaries.


Delhi Soccer Association

MLA Subhash Chopra has been re-elected as president of the Delhi Soccer Association for a second four year term in New Delhi. Out of the 78 governing council members, 74 participated in the elections. These were conducted by the returning officer Rajesh Mishra, member Bar Council of Delhi and in presence of AIFF Observer Anil Kamat.

Associate Professor of Physical Education Zakir Hussain College Syed Shaheen was elected as the new Honorary Secretary by defeating D.K. Bose by 60-14 votes. Shaheen was the Honorary Treasurer in the outgoing body.

The six Vice President, three Joint Secretaries and a Treasurer were also elected unopposed. They are Sharafatullah, O.P. Malhotra, H.V. Chavan, N.K. Bhatia, Nagendra Singh and Kamaluddin Qureshi. The three joint-Secretaries are Magan Singh Patwal, Rajeev Gupta and Rizwan Ul-Haq. Hem Chand was elected as Honorary Treasurer.

Nine members of managing committee elected are Bikramjit Purkayastha, Ashok Kumar Ghosh, Benny Joseph, Dalip Kumar Ghosh, Hafiz Shahid, Jagdish Malhotra, Liaquat Ali, Ashok Kumar and Bhola Nath Kamarkar.


Western Indian Football Association (Maharashtra)

In the elections of the Western Indian Football Association, the Union Minister for Heavy Industries and All India Football Federation president Praful Patel has been re-elected as WIFA president.

At the recently held 62nd Annual General Meeting of WIFA in Gondia, Sauter Vaz from the Mumbai District FA was elected as the new Honorary Secretary of the state.

Pyarelel Choudhary from the Pune District FA was chosen as the treasurer, while five vice-presidents Atal Bahadur Singh (Nagpur), Vishwajeet Kadam (Pune), Maloji Raje Chhatrapati (Kolhapur), Sunil Dhande (Beed), Liaquat Hussain (Aurangabad), three joint-secretaries (Wali Mohammed (Raigad), Manik Mandlik (Kolhapur), Deepak Dixit (Chanda) and 13 executive committee members were also chosen according to a WIFA press release.

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 .