Bayern Munich have signed a MOU with the West Bengal government to create an academy to sell Bayern Munich shirts help nurture talent in India.

The Kolkata project will be the first Bayern Academy outside Germany and has Karl-Heinze Rummenigge really excited:

“India is among the biggest countries in the world and I believe it is a good time now that such a country is ready to participate in a World Cup.”

We’ve previously covered Arsenal conducting football trials in India, Manchester United discuss the chances of going to India, Chelsea serve as a backdrop for an Indian movie and even Diego Maradona head to India in recent times.

Rummenigge is adamant that Bayern there to stay and not to make a quick buck – unlike, say, Bayern Munich who went to Malta to play a few games in order to bolster their 2006 World Cup bid (source: Andrew Jennings).

Bayern Munich ladies and gentleman, coming soon to a city near you (if you happen to live in India, that is).

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Diego Maradona, Argentina legend and now national team manager, will visit Kolkata, India on December 6 2008.

Diego will inaugurate a soccer academy and participate in a charity dinner where some of his playing gear would be auctioned. Thousands of fans are expected to attend a public reception planned for Mister Maradona.

This will be quite the treat for our India-based readers – I recommend that you find out more about this and if you’re in Kolkata, make sure you make the trip to see Diego Maradona.

[Source: Reuters]

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

It was a sweltering mid-August night in 2008 in the Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi when the Uzbek referee Valentin Kovalenko blew the final whistle. Spectators were climbing the flag poles around the stadium in celebration & the TV commentator declared that he had just witnessed a historic event.

India had beaten Tajikistan convincingly in a 4-1 demolition derby. It had been an almost complete performance from the Indian national football team where their 4 goals included a hat-trick from star striker Sunil Chetri, himself a local Delhi boy.

Now many may ask, ‘Why do you care so much about one match of football?’ Out in the real world the Indian football team doesn’t mean much, & back in India it doesn’t mean a whole lot more. But for the 20,000 Indian football fans crowding the stadium on that night of 13th August, the result was a realisation of years of hard work to try & get Indian football back on the world map.

This match was not just any match, but the final of the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup — a tournament ‘…aimed at giving second-tier nations a chance to fight for glory’ according to AFC President Mohamed Bin Hammam. India, as winners of this tournament now automatically qualifies to compete in the 2011 Asian Cup. It is the first time they will play in this competition since 1984, when they were ingloriously bundled out of the first round of the tournament without scoring a single goal.

Why is it so important to me that India is finally doing well in football? Well for one thing, I am an Indian who is sick of being a citizen of a country with a one-dimensional sporting interest i.e. cricket. Secondly, I would like to see the day when the Indian football team finally plays in a World Cup tournament & I firmly believe that we are on the path to realising that goal. Lastly, I think that a nation with the second largest population in the world must have the talent pool necessary to field 11 players that can take on the world’s best in the world’s greatest game.

This being said, India wasn’t always wandering in the dark in terms of footballing greatness. There was a time when we did take on the world’s best in the 1950s & ’60s. We won the gold medals in the 1951 & 1962 Asian Games & were placed 4th in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. Our best performance on the international stage was when we were runners-up in the 1964 Asian Cup. Sadly, our one chance of world cup glory came in 1950 when we were invited by FIFA to take part in the tournament in Brazil. Inexplicably, our players refused to play in anything other than their bare feet & FIFA rules barred us from participating for this very reason. Since then we have struggled to get into the competition & Indian football lost its sheen & popularity from the 1970s onwards. All the gains we had made in the first 2 decades since Independence were lost in the sands of time.

Fast-forward to a new story. After qualifying for the 2011 Asian Cup, bin Hammam stated, ‘…India grabbed the chance with both hands. They now have a great opportunity to prove themselves once again…’. Maybe I’m being too optimistic now, but I feel the same way. Like many Indians I am a great believer in destiny. The long awaited glory must be at hand, & it will happen in my lifetime!

The unlikely architect of this current resurgence in Indian football was appointed manager of the national team in 2006 by the All India Football Federation (AIFF). Coach Bob Houghton has had a long career in football management, spanning almost 40 years. A former player for Fulham he began coaching in England at the tender age of 21 & has been an assistant manager to the likes of Bobby Robson. His single greatest achievement in club management has been to put Swedish football on the world map when he coached Malmo FF to the European Cup final in 1979 against Nottingham Forrest (then managed by Brian Clough). Till date it has been the first & only time a Swedish team has reached the European Cup final.

Since then he has coached clubs in Canada, Saudi Arabia, Greece, Switzerland & the USA. His first experience as manager of a national team came when he became coach of China in 1997. He coached them to their first win against Japan in modern history & won the bronze medal in the 1998 Asian Games. He left in 1999 but the foundations of the team he built eventually qualified for the World Cup in 2002, the first time in its nation’s history.

Since his appointment in 2006 by the AIFF, he has carefully developed a side that has many of the characteristic hallmarks of the English game. After watching the Nehru Cup in 2007 & the AFC Challenge Cup in 2008 (both tournaments in which he coached the side to victory) I have developed a few thoughts about the changes I have seen in the standard of play in the Indian side.

The most important thing that has improved is the work rate of the players. Houghton has considerably enhanced the level of player fitness & conditioning to the point where they can run the opposition off their feet. They go for every ball, they keep it moving & they are not afraid to put in the crunching tackles to win it back. The second thing that comes to mind (& something I have never seen in the national team before) is the spirit & heart with which the side competes. Bob Houghton has somehow instilled such belief in his players that they fight for possession right till the very last second of play.

The passion & intensity I’ve seen in the players eyes in the last 2 years has been a heart warming revelation. The love & respect they have for their coach is evident at the end of every match they win. They come off the pitch & he is the first one they all embrace before they trudge off to the dressing rooms.

To me, these qualities are very promising for a developing football nation & contribute directly to the team cohesiveness I see on the pitch. I can go on about other improvements in their game. No English manager is content without inculcating long ball tactics in his players & Houghton has done that very well. Long balls from mid-field, crosses from the wings & headers into the goal…the players have made these weapons a natural part of their game. But there is more to this than meets the eye. They have also become better at their build up play from mid-field & ever since the Nehru Cup, I have noticed that they can be absolutely devastating on the counter-attack.

That is not to say the team is without flaws. The most glaring one is their significant lack of pace. Apart from their star strikers Chetri & Bhaichung Bhutia, the rest of the players have a worrying lack of it. They also lack that requisite flair that world beaters tend to need to win big competitions. Lastly, they have a questionable record away from home. Houghton till date has been the 2nd most successful manager of the Indian football team (56% win ratio), but most of his victories have come on home soil where the Indian crowd is a significant morale booster.

Leaving all this aside for the moment, it is worthy to note that during his management many young players have come into the side & have already made their mark in the game. Some of the key players to watch out for in 2011…

Sunil Chetri (Striker) — India’s very own pocket sized dynamo & the player that most reminds me of Michael Owen in his heyday. His speed & skill is phenomenal & he is the team’s supreme goal-poacher. I expect him to make his mark on the world stage come 2011.

Bhachung Bhutia (Striker) — already a legend in Indian football & our very own Dennis Bergkamp. He is the only player I know of who has a football stadium named after him. His experience is essential to the team’s success & he can almost match Chetri for pace. As captain of the team he is responsible for keeping their morale up & he has done a stellar job so far.

NP Pradeep (Midfield) — this guy can run all day long. He is a key component of the team’s ‘engine room’ & a true box-to-box midfielder. Has a tendency to pop up in the penalty area & traumatize opposition goalkeepers with his headers.

Climax Lawrence (Midfield) — What a name! India’s playmaker & very own Andrea Pirlo. Another experienced pro, he will be essential in 2011.

Mehraj Wadoo (Midfield) — aka ‘The Tank’. His size & physique render him uniquely capable of breaking down opposition attacks in his preferred defensive mid-field position.

Steven Dias (Midifield) — this right winger reminds me a lot of David Beckham. He has a vicious right foot & is not afraid to use it. He can deliver crosses & long-balls from the wings & mid-field with breath-taking power as well as pin-point accuracy. He is also our free-kick specialist.
Deepak Kumar Mondal, Mahesh Gawli & Gourmangi Singh (Defense) — 3 centre backs who are very good at what they do. They keep a very tight backline & are not afraid to bomb forward on the counter-attack.

Subrata Pal (Goalkeeper) — he is as talented as Jens Lehmann, & just as crazy. His lightning quick reflexes & ability to close down attackers in one-on-one situations are amazing. He is no slouch with the aerial balls either. His aggressiveness on the pitch has already become legendary in Indian footballing lore in the short time he has been in the side. A player the opposition will have to watch out for if they are ever in his penalty box.

Needless to say I am filled with expectations from this team. There has always been a significant ‘underground’ fan base for football in India. I still believe it is the most played sport in Indian schools across the country & this belief comes from my own experiences in school there. Competing in the Asian Cup in 2011 is the pinnacle of achievement in my lifetime & I hope to see them get better & better as I get older. If we do well, I have no doubt that interest in football will explode in this country & help provide much needed national stars for years to come.

Full credit must go to the AIFF. With their appointment of Houghton & willingness to listen to his inputs, they have sent important signals that despite a lack of sufficient resources they are making serious efforts to develop football in India. They agreed to his suggestions of sending the team on a tour of Portugal & playing friendlies against Taiwan & Malaysia in preparation for the AFC Challenge Cup. This experience was crucial in helping us to victory.

The team have got their fundamentals down pat. They now have 3 years to work on their game & elevate their skill levels. With his wealth of experience I have no doubt that Houghton & the team can do it.

Come on India, make us proud! The sky is the limit…

This article is a submission for the Soccerlens 2008 Writing Competition; to participate, please read the details here. The competition is sponsored by Subside Sports (premier online store for football shirts) and Icons (official signed football jerseys).

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Arsenal staff recently held a 2-week coaching program in Calcutta and selected 16 schoolboys for a training program at the Emirates dubbed ‘The Arsenal Way’.

The boys, aged between 10 and 15, are flying out to begin their training at the club’s stadium, The Emirates, from next month.

How did Arsenal, a club notorious for NOT traveling far and beyond to play profitable pre-season games (United are set to pick up more than 1m from their ‘friendly’ in Nigeria against Portsmouth) get all the away over to India?

Through the club’s club’s Indian partners, Tata Tea, owners of Tetley Tea.

Tata Tea say the objective is to give the children access to world-class training facilities. Arsenal say it is an opportunity to propagate the game in India.

But at the end of the day, it’s an opportunity for Tata Tea and Arsenal to make money from football in India. And if they can do it by arranging such training camps, more power to them.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

When David Gill was asked whether Manchester United planned to go to India for a preseason tour in the future, he told us what we already knew:

That the market in India was huge, that they’d had offers to come play there, that Manchester United needed to conquer that final frontier before any other football club did and that there was a very good chance that a Premier League club would go play in India in the next few years.

East Asia, North America, the Middle East and Africa have already been conquered. South America doesn’t have the same sort of financial stake as North America and the Middle East, nor the available support for European teams like East Asia, nor the socio-political significance of Africa. A combination of distance and lack of numbers rules out Australia.

The next big target for the English Premier League is India: a billion-plus population, a growing economy and a country that is flush with the economical success of the IPL. Where sports are concerned, India knows as well as those in England or the US about the value of a TV audience, and their strength in numbers allows them to present a very attractive proposition to any club or league thinking of playing a friendly or two in the region.

So far teams have stayed away because there isn’t as much money in going to India as there is in going to, say, Hong Kong. This is likely to change in the future; once the balance of power shifts in India’s favor you’ll see a Premier League team visiting the region every summer (and if the people in charge of football are as business-savvy as those for cricket, you’ll see several clubs from Europe playing a preseason tournament in India every season).

As potential destinations for pre-season profiteering preparations increase, we might even see clubs like Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool send out two teams each preseason (maybe not at the same time) and make the most of their squad depth and the opportunities to create closer ties with international communities.

When do you think the first English Premier League club will play a friendly in India? Let us know in the comments.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

I felt a mixture of bemusement and enjoyment as I sat and watched the fascinating and lively auction for cricket’s upcoming Indian Premier League. But once I’d got over the amusement of seeing players being bought for different teams in an auction house and awarded their price as wages with no choice as to who they play for – it suddenly dawned on me that the Indians might have struck gold on this one.

This 44-day Twenty20 competition sounds brilliant.

Each of the eight city franchises are allowed eight non-Indian players in their 16-man squad, but only four of them can play in each match. In addition four Indian under-22 players MUST play in each game too. Home representation is strong but each city has landed some of the greatest players on earth and I for one, can’t wait to see how this fresh format works. I think it could be stunning. And you know what? This could be the future of football….

Imagine a Premier League where every team had to use four English under-22 year olds. Then imagine your Premier League team having to field three other English players. That makes seven. Then imagine having four of the world’s greatest footballers making up the rest of your side.

There would be more than enough places up for grabs for the Birmingham’s and Reading’s of this world to be able to snare players like Figo, Seedorf, Ibrahimovic, Pirlo, Trezeguet, Toni and Raul to name just a few.

It would even things up somewhat too. Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool would only be allowed to snap up 24 foreigners between them. They’d still be favourites given their financial clout but they’d have to be a bit more selective over the imports they decide to bring in.

A good youth policy would also be rewarded too. And the England national team would benefit enormously I am sure.

It’s not a bad vision is it…?

Forget this 39th game nonsense. Let’s give this IPL format a go in football instead. We could invent a competition — in an non-World Cup or European Championship summer, and then we could trial it. If it works, maybe that’s the future model of the game.

It’s not as crazy as you think. What do you reckon?

Previously published at 4sportsake.com.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News