Is the upcoming I-League set to face venue problems?

The 2012/13 edition of the I-League, India's professional football league, is set to kick-off sometime in October 2012 after the conclusion of the 2012 Federation Cup. But the sixth edition is set to face venue and infrastructure problems of unknown proportions.

It is already known that Goa's Nehru Stadium, also known as Fatorda Stadium, in Margao is set for major renovation work ahead of next years Lusofonia Games. This means the stadium will not be available for the whole duration of the I-League and with the Duler ground in Mapusa still work in progress as it is getting an artificial turf under the FIFA 'Win in India with India' programme, this leaves only Vasco's Tilak Maidan as an I-League venue in Goa for the four participating clubs - Dempo SC, Churchill Brothers SC, Salgaocar SC and Sporting Clube de Goa.

Mumbai's Cooperage ground is also part of FIFA's 'Win in India with India' programme. There the artificial turf is already in use and through another FIFA grant the Cooperage is getting upgraded with proper stands plus a floodlighting system. Only as per WIFA CEO Henry Menezes' assessment it will not be ready to host I-League matches before November 2012. This means Air India, Mumbai FC and promoted ONGC might have to play their first few home matches in Pune or start with a number of away ties.

Now in Kolkata the Saltlake Stadium had its problems last season with floodlights which resulted in matches having to be played in the afternoon heat due to the need of daylight and to avoid floodlight failure which has been reoccurring since September 2004. West Bengal Sports Minister Madan Mitra promised the IFA, the I-League clubs and football lovers that the archaic floodlights would be replaced by the start of the next I-League, but that now looks to be in danger with the minister not willing to give any final date. This could mean further afternoon matches in the Saltlake Stadium in the new I-League season for East Bengal Club, Mohun Bagan AC, Prayag United SC and the Pailan Arrows.

The above leaves the I-League with 11 of their 14 clubs having stadium issues at the start of the I-League season with Pune FC hopefully not facing similar problems with their floodlights as last season and United Sikkim FC's home town of Gangtok not being off limits due to bad weather in the winter months.

It's a difficult time to plan out things for the I-League...

Exclusive PHOTOs: Sporting B's Sunil Chhetri in match action

Yesterday Sporting Clube de Portugal 'B' faced Associação Naval 1º de Maio ( Match Report: Sporting B gets 1-1 draw, Sunil plays 45 minutes ) in their second game at the the Football Summer Cup By DFN played at the Fontelo in Viseu. Here some exclusive match action photos of India captain Sunil Chhetri with his SCP 'B' team mates.

Here the link to some Exclusive PHOTOs: Sporting B's Sunil Chhetri warming-up .

Please LIKE www.facebook.com/arunfoot & follow @Arunfoot on Twitter to get further updates on Sunil Chhetri's pre-season at Sporting Clube de Portugal 'B' Team along with further news on what the other Indian footballers and Players of Indian origin are doing across Europe!

Orissa 1st Division Football League kicked-off!

The Football Association of Orissa organised 1st Division of the Orissa Football League officially named 'Sidhartha' FAO 1st Division League 2012 kicked-off at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack yesterday with Odisha Police winning 2-0 against Mangala Club. Double scorer Himanshu Majhi was the match winner for the Policemen with goals in the 65th and 74th minute.

The Chief guest for the opening ceremony was Director General of Police Prakash Mishra, while the Honorary Secretary of the Football Association of Orissa Asirbad Behera was present as the Guest of Honour.

Also present from the FAO and other dignitaries were Bijay Das, Bhakta Ballav Das, Ramesh Ch. Mallick (all vice-Presidents), Rushinath Sahoo, Avijit Paul, Bikram K. Mohapatra, Sangita Sharma (Joint-Secretary) and M.A. Alam (Treasurer).


To keep uptodate with fixtures and result follow it under the official FAO website: www.footballodisha.org

Airtel Rising Stars - Jaipur: Digvijay, Ishan & Shubham the winners!

Digvijay Singh from St.Anselm's, Mansrovar; Ishan Rozario from St. Xavier's School and Shubham Sharma from St.Anselm's, Ajmer were adjudge as the three 'Airtel Rising Stars' at the Jaipur talent hunt that concluded at the city’s St. Xavier’s School Football Ground. The players were selected on criteria based on the aspects mentioned in the Manchester United Scouting Guidelines.

Gajraj Singh of Mayoor Chopasni School, Jodhpur was selected among all the goalkeepers. Gajraj will join four other goalkeepers from Delhi, Chandigarh and Lucknow for the next level trials for goalkeepers.

The experienced and watchful eyes of the coaches judged the players on their performance, taking into consideration their physical and mental strengths, expertise in position, and technical acumen. Based on their expertise in the city camp Digvijay Singh, Ishan Rozario and Shubham Sharma were selected. The three footballers from Rajasthan will join players from 15 other centres to participate in the six-day final selection trial, scheduled to take place in Bangalore this September.

Airtel CEO Sudipto Chowdhury congratulated the chosen boys from Jaipur and said, "With the expertise of Procam International, Airtel Rising Stars offers talented young players across India a phenomenal chance to participate and enjoy football in a structured and well run format. It was incredible to see hundreds of young aspirants playing their best game and we were pleased to find these three exceptionally talented players in Jaipur."

"Our best wishes are with these players and all others selected from across the country and hope they go on to achieve their ultimate dreams."

The 120 footballers who were shortlisted on Day one but failed to make it to the camp will get another opportunity to make their 'Airtel Rising Stars' dream come true next season. They will also receive Manchester United certificates, signed by none other than Sir Alex Fergusson.

Launched in association with Manchester United, 'Airtel Rising Stars' is a rigorous scouting program that will cover 16 cities across India and will choose 12 talented footballers who get the chance-of-a-lifetime to attend a week long training camp with Manchester United in Old Trafford, England.

The three best players from Jaipur will join 45 other players, who will be divided into four teams of 12 each and will be tested on all parameters (including physical attributes, individual skills, match situations and their performances in actual matches) before the 12 best players are chosen to travel to Manchester United for a week and to train alongside the Manchester United Academy team.

Sporting B gets 1-1 draw, Sunil plays 45 minutes

Sporting 'B' drew one-all against Associação Naval 1º de Maio in their second game in the Football Summer Cup By DFN played at Viseu's Municipal Stadium. Their new Indian striker Sunil Chhetri came on as a second half substitute and played the 45 minutes.

Pedro Mendes gave Sporting 'B' a 12th minute lead through a header, but the green-and-whites were wasteful with their chances and this would harm them as Carlitos equalised for Naval in the 76th minute. It stayed one-all until the end.

In their tournaments opening match Sporting Clube de Portugal 'B' Team had won 4-1 against the 'B' Team of Associação Académica de Coimbra at the Municipal de Nelas. In that game Sunil Chhetri had played 45 minutes in the second half of the match.


Here the link to Exclusive PHOTOs: Sporting B's Sunil Chhetri warming-up .

Please LIKE www.facebook.com/arunfoot & follow @Arunfoot on Twitter to get further updates on Sunil Chhetri's pre-season at Sporting Clube de Portugal 'B' Team along with further news on what the other Indian footballers and Players of Indian origin are doing across Europe!

Exclusive PHOTOs: Sporting B's Sunil Chhetri warming-up

Today Sporting Clube de Portugal 'B' faced Associação Naval 1º de Maio in their second game at the the Football Summer Cup By DFN played at the Fontelo in Viseu. Here some exclusive pre-match warm-up photos of India captain Sunil Chhetri with his SCP 'B' team mates.

Please LIKE www.facebook.com/arunfoot & follow @Arunfoot on Twitter to get further updates on Sunil Chhetri's pre-season at Sporting Clube de Portugal 'B' Team along with further news on what the other Indian footballers and Players of Indian origin are doing across Europe!

Kalimpong's Share FC launch own website

Kalimpong's Share FC in another first for the Darjeeling Hills has launched the club's official website at a function. The URLs of the website will be www.sharefootballclub.com and www.sharefootballclub.org .

With this Share FC has become the first football club from the hills to have its own Website. Pranab Pariyar, Share FC president, said, "We have already set a trend to bring about marked changes in how football is run in our region, last month we released our magazine and music CD, and now this website which we plan to use it as a medium to promote not only our club but also football news from our region."

The website has been designed and developed by an IT firm based in Singtam, Sikkim called Izytech and the developers have designed it in the most modern fashion. The features of the site are the options to upload videos, fanzone where the people can download club songs and other materials along with the magazine.

The site was launched by the club advisers Prashad Pradhan and Anand Pradhan during the media conference held at a hotel here in Kalimpong.

Also in another first the club has recently paid the college fees of six players who are currently pursuing Graduation from Kalimpong College.

The club also wanted to thank the football loving people of Kalimpong who came out and supported the 2nd June Exhibition match against the Hill All-Stars which has encouraged the club even further to keep working hard to promote football in this region.

More information about Share FC can also be found under www.facebook.com/sharefootballclub .