Messi to travel to Hyderabad also; CM elated with Messi’s poster
Lionel Messi will also travel to Hyderabad along with Kolkata, Mumbai, and Chennai in his India trip in December. Satadru Dutta, the organizer of this trip, has already presented a Messi poster to the Chief Minister of Telangana and revealed that the Chief Minister of the state, Revanth Reddy, was elated with Messi’s trip to Hyderabad. “The Chief Minister himself is a fan of Messi. He also said the whole football fraternity of Hyderabad is waiting for Mesi’s arrival, who will be reaching there on 13th December evening after completing his visit to Kolkata.” “The CM also divulged that he will be inviting the state’s corporate fraternity to watch the Messi-show on the day. He has some plans to introduce a youth development program with the city’s potential kids, where he wants Messi to inaugurate the program on the day,” Satadru informed while speaking to Parallel Sports YouTube.
Shrachi Sports on its mark to become a new powerhouse in Indian football
The football in India got a shock after the country’s top-tier football championship, ISL, was put on hold. The crisis began with the conflict between the All India Football Federation and its commercial partner, the organizer of ISL, FSDL, and it aggravated after ISL did not turn out to be saleable, as none of the corporate houses, despite showing initial interest, submitted bids for the League. The impact on the stalemate has already spread across the country as several ISL clubs have stopped their first-team operations, stopped salary payments, and are forced to offer short-term contracts to players due to the uncertainty. Hundreds of Indian footballers, including the country’s top stars like Sunil Chhetri, Sandesh Jhingan, and Gurpreet Singh Sindhu, as well as a few foreign footballers, participating in the League are left in limbo. Some are seeking to leave for other clubs, creating instability for the ISL teams. Referees have also started expressing concern, as the stalemate could impact their livelihoods and the future of professional refereeing in India. The ecosystem of Indian football has been greatly affected. The World Footballers’ Union, like FIPRO, has raised concerns. Amidst the jeopardy, Shrachi Sports’ endeavor in the promotion and development of football in Bengal is setting an example. The company joined the Indian Football Association (IFA) as its marketing partner. CFL Premier League was televised live through the SSEN, an app owned by Shrachi Sports. Then Shrachi Sports acquired televising rights of the I-League last season, providing an opportunity for the millions of the country’s football lovers. Now Shrchi Sports has taken another leap towards the fulfillment of its mission of creating a supply-line of potential footballers from Bengal. The company is going to introduce a new franchise football league, Bengal Super League (BSL). It is a unique idea where the majority of footballers participating in the BSL will be from districts. The success of Shrachi Sports should draw the attention of the country’s football fraternity as it has been able to convince the corporate world to extend financial support for the BSL at a time when the country’s top-tier league is not getting interest from the corporate houses. The company’s Managing Director, Rahul Todi, and Chairman Tomal Ghosal recently traveled to Germany and convinced Germany’s former World Cup-winning captain Lother Matthäus, to get associated with BSL as its brand ambassador. Both Rahul Todi and Tamal Ghosal commented recently that their motive is to produce footballers of international quality in the future, and they materialized their desire, formalizing a strategic partnership with FC Ingolstadt 04, a professional German football club. The partnership lays the foundation for a long-term Indo-German exchange focused on grassroots development, coach education, and international player training. Bicharpur, a village in Madhya Pradesh, has become a symbol of rural football passion and talent. Inspired by the passion of the youngsters of that village Shrachi Sports envisions creating similar football hubs across Bengal and India developing football-centric communities, and providing rural and tribal youth a global platform.
J&K stun Delhi in Ranji Trophy for the first time in 65 years
Jammu and Kashmir’s progress in Indian domestic cricket makes another take-off. The team achieved another rare milestone on Tuesday, securing their first-ever triumph against fancied Delhi by seven wickets at their home. Chasing 179, Jammu and Kashmir was steered by an unbeaten 133 from opener Qamran Iqbal that anchored a composed chase. It was Qamaran’s career-best knock in domestic cricket so far. The groundwork of the victory was laid by a familiar cast of heroes. Auqib Nabi ripped through Delhi’s first innings with a fiery 5 for 35. The team’s captain Paras Dogra led by example with a composed 106. Abdul Samad added a brisk 86 to keep the momentum alive. And when Delhi tried to claw back, young Vanshaj Sharma delivered a telling spell of 6 for 68, sealing the visitors’ grip on the match. This was J&K’s second outright win of the season. In recent years, the team has stunned several heavyweight sides, including Mumbai, Baroda, Rajasthan, and Vidarbha. This win also pushes Jammu and Kashmir to second in the Elite Group D points table, just behind leader Mumbai. However, Bengal secured a humiliating triumph agaist railways with an innings and 120 runs in their Group-C league match on Tuesday. Bengal pacer Shahbaz Ahmed demonstrated a devastated performance with seven for 56 runs. Railways innings collasped to 132 only in 55.5 overs.
Sunil Chhetri, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, add the list of footballers, appeal for the resumption of the ISL
Country’s several leading footballers, like Shouvik Chakrabarty and Sandesh Jinghan, and even foreigners like Adrian Luna, expressing their frustration, have urged the country’s football ruling body to do the best that can resume ISL. Now, two more leading footballers of the country Sunil Chhetri and Gurpreet Singh Sandhu have added the list. Both the footballers, frustrated by the ongoing stalemate in Indian football, have posted an impassioned plea on social media urging “those involved in running our sport in the country, to do whatever it takes to get the football season underway”. The ISL typically begins in September. But right now, there is no clarity on when it will begin, with the league already having missed two months of its regular calendar. This has led to some teams suspending operations. Many top footballers have been without competitive football for months. There are reports that even training schedules and salary payments have been disrupted. “We, professional footballers who play in the Indian Super League, are coming together to make a plea and, more importantly, to send the message that we stand united in our efforts to get the Indian Super League season underway. To put it simply, we want to play and now,” footballers like Chhetri and Sandhu wrote in a joint statement they posted on their social media handles. Our anger, frustration and distress has now been replaced by desperation. Desperation to play the game we love, in front of people who mean everything to us, our families, our fans. This is a plea to all those involved in running our sport in the country, to do whatever it takes to get the football season underway. India needs its competitive football now more than ever,” the statement read. Sharing the statement on his Instagram handle, Cheetri wrote: “We are all standing shoulder to shoulder, willing to do whatever it takes to resurrect the sport we love.” Sandhu’s message read, “We find ourselves in the midst of our hardest challenge yet. And yet, all we can do at this point is plead.”
A social media content creator becomes a Serie A scout!
As social media’s influence grows, content creators are also gaining significant influence. The football clubs might also be influenced by the constant growth of social media influencers. The example is there. Serie A side Como 1907 has recently hired 20-year-old Felix Johnston as a first-team scout. It is a remarkable step for Johnston, who, until recently, was a Chelsea content creator on X, highlighting and providing analysis on the brightest stars at the club’s academy. Now he is helping find players to improve a side managed by former Chelsea, Arsenal, and Spain midfielder Cesc Fabregas in Italy’s top flight. “It’s been a long journey,” Johnston told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Monday Night Club. “It started with my friend messaging me during the lockdown saying, ‘you need to get on Twitter, that’s where everyone is talking about football’. “I took it kind of seriously, built up a following, and where it really started was when I discovered the Chelsea academy. “I fell in love with watching the academy games, seeing the young players come through. It was what I was known for, my niche on Twitter.” From there, he began to do his own scouting of players, and Chelsea’s youth-focused transfer strategy gave him plenty to get stuck into. “Suddenly their model was all about signing young players, so I was staying up until 2am watching Kendry Paez at the Under-17 World Cup, Estevao, then finding talents of my own,” Johnston added. “I got a bit of recognition, including from some people in the game, and that made scouting a reality to me. Prior to that, it was just truly a passion.” It is in the past six months that things have really moved on for Johnston. His first step into professional football came in April when he was hired by Danish team Vejle as a scouting consultant before, at the end of July, Como got in touch. “The director of recruitment [at Como] reached out to me on Twitter saying he liked what I was tweeting and that he would like to do an internship and find some modern, younger scouts to bring into the club,” Johnston said. “I was obviously very happy to go along with that, and nine weeks later, I got the job.” So, having got the dream job, what is Johnston, who is combining the role with his university studies in Milan, being tasked with at Como? “The director of recruitment who hired me was the head of data at his previous club, AZ Alkmaar, and is a very data-focused guy,” he said. “My role, essentially, is that I get passed down data players, watch them on the eye, and do a report. “I look at the players they ask me to look at. But it’s an all-encompassing role, not restricted by any region or position.” Five full games are usually considered enough for Johnston to compile an initial report – although that can vary. “If they play for a low possession side and they’ve not really touched the ball, then I’ll need to watch more just for more evidence,” he explained. He is not the traditional way into the game, but Johnston says Como are a “very forward-thinking club” who “want to get the new talent on the scene”. With the club seventh in just their second year back in Serie A, it is an approach that seems to be working. Meanwhile, Johnston’s big tip for the future is 16-year-old Deinner Ordonez. Ordonez is a centre-back at Independiente del Valle in Ecuador – the academy that Moises Caicedo came through. They’ve had a lot of talents, and he’s very talented.” It must be noted that now Johnston’s analysis and opinion will be sent to Fabregas rather than the social media masses.
