Kopa Tigers appoints Okolie Odafa as ‘brand ambassador’! Associates with La Palmas
Sudeep Pakrashi: After a gap of almost 14 years, Okolie Odafa is back in Bengal football! The once heartthrob of Mohun Bagan fans as well as Kolkata’s football fraternity, the lethal Nigerian striker will again be seen in the forthcoming Bengal Super League (BSL) franchise football tournament. The 40-year-old footballer, who last had a brief stint with Gokulam Kerala FC in 2018, has been chosen as the ‘brand ambassador’ of Kopa Tigers Birbhum in the BSL. The franchise-owner Avijit Roy revealed that Odafa will be present in the official media conference of Kopa Tigers on 8th December he will also be present in the team’s first home match of the League at Dubrajpur Stadium. Kopa Tigers has already been running a residential football school in Bolpur for the last six months. The academy has 22 students of different age groups from under-13 to under-19 and 15 students in its non-residential coaching program. Interestingly, the academy has two foreign students, one from Tonga and the other from Ghana. Roy, when asked about plans on developing football in their region, explained, “Our key motive is to produce footballers of international quality. We know that unless a potential youngster gets adequate match time, he cannot gain maturity. So, we already have a tie-up with the Goan premier team, Churchill Brothers. Following the agreement, potential performers from our academy will join Churchill Brothers and take part in the youth-level tournaments for Churchill in Goa and other places. Secondly, we are in the final stage of associating our academy with the famous Spanish club Deportivo Las Palmas. We want our potential boys to get the best of training and match-exposure under the observation of Las Palmas academy coaches and scouts.” While commenting on the franchise teams’ financial gain from the BSL, Roy explained, “On behalf of our franchise, I can say, we can reach the break-even point in terms of financial gains in the first year. As a popular television channel has been the broadcaster of the league, BSL will be televised across the country and in a few countries of the world. Naturally, the business houses will certainly be interested in joining the League in future.” Kopa Tigers, which has registered 25 footballers, including their marquee footballer, Tajikistan’s midfielder Komron Tursunov. Plans are there to rope in another foreign footballer. They are apart, the team comprise footballers from the CFL Premier Division and tribal players from Birbhum district. Roy looked enthusiastic while commenting, “Nearly 20 tribal youngsters are already training at our academy. Some among them are highly potential. We are going to conduct a selection trial only with more young tribal footballers on 27th November. One of our key motives is to is to find out and scout more talented young tribal footballers in future. They already have two coaches under Ghanaian chief coach Joseph. Bengal’s former coach Ranjan Bhattacharya has joined the franchise as mentor, and now the franchise has decided to rope in a licensed coach from England who will also be looking after the overall training program.
Inter Miami reach their first-ever Eastern Conference final courtesy of Lionel Messi’s brilliance!
Inter Miami advanced to their first MLS Eastern Conference final in club history with a convincing 4–0 victory over FC Cincinnati. This result builds on Miami’s momentum in the postseason, marking their second consecutive 4–0 playoff win under coach Javier Mascherano. Lionel Messi, as usual, was the anchor man behind the triumph, scoring a goal and providing three assists, continuing his consistent involvement in every Miami goal during this playoff journey. The result eliminates Cincinnati at home for the third consecutive season, extending their streak of postseason disappointments just short of the conference final. Messi delivered a commanding performance, scoring the opening goal and assisting on three others to drive Miami’s attack. His header in the 19th minute set the tone for the match, and he was directly involved in the build-up for each subsequent goal. Messi now has six goals and six assists in the postseason. Tadeo Allende continued his postseason form with two second-half goals in the 62nd and 74th minutes. Both came from quick transition plays initiated by Messi, who won possession high and quickly set up Allende. Allende’s impact underscores his importance in this playoff run. Mateo Silvetti, aged 19, made a significant impact by assisting Messi’s opener and adding a goal of his own to make it 2–0. Silvetti finished off a well-worked move that began with a right-side throw-in and a clever exchange with Messi. His performance reinforced the value of Miami’s youthful frontline, which flourished in the absence of Luis Suarez, who was available after suspension but did not start.
Shrachi Sports eyes big; Makes a tie-up with renowned German club for the future of Bengal football
Sudeep Pakrashi: At a time when Indian football’s top league, the Indian Super League (ISL) is struggling to get kicked off due to a lack of a proper investor, Shrachi Sports has set an instance through its endeavour to recreate a supple-line of quality footballers from Bengal. Along with that the Bengal Super League (BSL), introduced by Shrachi Sports, is being able to bring investment also in the field of football. It can be assumed that eight district franchise teams are investing nearly Rs 2 crore each to make it nearly Rs 20 crores in the newly-built football eco-system in Bengal. And introducing the franchise-based Bengal Super League (BSL) from 14th December with eight district franchise teams is not their only motive. Looking forward to the future prospect of Bengal football, they are already eying ‘big’. Shrachi Sports is going to make a tie-up with a renowned German club, FC Ingolstadt. The club, although participates in the third tier of the Bundeshliga currently, has the biggest youth development program in Germany. The company’s chairman, Tamal Ghosal when asked about the tie-up revealed, “The key reason behind the association with FC Ingolstadt is their amazing youth development program. The club is owned by renowned car company, Audi and they have built up an ultra-modern, remarkable infrastructure. They have nearly 10 thousand students of different age-groups. He continued, “Significantly, most of their academy boys are promoted to senior squad who play in the Bundesliga. Statistics show that even the clubs like Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund do not promote their academy boys in the senior squads in such extent compared to FC Ingolstadt. Our emphasis will now be on educating the coaches we have here, workshops with the referees who are in our panel, and ultimately, an initiative will surely be taken to send highly-potential footballers to the FC Ingolstadt academy, selected through the trials.” But this is not the end. Shrachi Sports, which is expected to announce its tie-up officially on 26th November, has already been in the process of introducing a few residential academies across Bengal, and their plans are likely to be materialized from Burdwan, as they already have a huge infrastructural set-up in the district. Shrachi Sports already has a residential football school in Delhi. The company has already attached a Delhi-based club, Juba Sangha, and as the Delhi-based club will be participating in the AIFF’s Under-18 Youth League this year, most of the footballers from Shrachi Sports’ football academy will be getting due exposure through their participation in the League. After the end of the AIFF Under-18 Youth League, East Bengal’s former Ghanaian defender Suley Musah, who is already working as one of Shrachi Sports’ mentors and scouts, might join the company’s Delhi-based academy as chief coach. Ghosal mentioned, “We have observed Musah is highly proficient in guiding the youngsters.” Looking forward to the first BSL, Shrachi Sports has conducted a selection trial in Kolkata. Ghosal explained, “We received registration of around 800 players. Around 150 attended the selection trial. Three former greats, Bhaskar Ganguly, Alvito D’Cunha and Suley Musah were scouts and 20 potential footballers were finally shortlisted. Out of 20, one is a German boy.” Now, the company will conduct another selection trial in North Bengal. The company’s aim is to scout around 45 potential footballers from these two selection trials and distribute them among the eight district franchise teams for the BSL. “Our scouting program began in the CFL Premier Division. We appointed scouts for each of the 25 participating teams in the CFL Premier Division, and footballers have already been shortlisted. The scouting program will be on during the BSL, and it will help us when FC Ingolstadt coaches will come and conduct a series of selection trials to spot the boys for their academy. Our short-listed candidates can be there in the selection trials,” divulged Ghosal.
Supreme Court conveys the Union government’s promise to support the AIFF for the ISL
The Union government has finally come forward, extending cooperation to the All Indian Football Federation (AIFF) by taking responsibility to solve the ongoing stalemate in the Indian Super League (ISL). Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the apex court on Friday that the government has taken stock of the crisis that the AIFF faces after a failed tender process for monetization of the country’s premier league. He assured a special bench of Justices PS Narasimha and J Bagchi that the government is committed to providing relief to the players and clubs and would find a way for the tournament to be held. Mehta said that the concerned minister is “fully aware” of the situation and has clarified that the “ISL must be held. How it is to be held, what sponsors, who will finance, etc, can be left to the government. The government would intervene to ensure that the ISL is held and our players are not put to any disadvantage,” he said during the hearing. “We will ensure that players are not put at any disadvantage due to a lack of sponsors or a lack of club owners. The government’s role, though, shouldn’t be too overbearing to give the impression of interference, the bench pointed out. “We don’t want to put the impression that the government is again interfering. It is only to tide over the situation,” the justices said. “Absolutely, otherwise, we have no role,” Mehta agreed, adding the government will bear in mind that “anything being done should be in conformity with FIFA regulation so that we may not fall foul of that”. Twelve ISL clubs had appealed to the Supreme Court for a speedy resolution, while Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had met representatives of I-League clubs on 13th November in New Delhi and was apprised of concerns over the football season. Amicus Curiae Gopal Sankaranarayanan advised the Centre to engage with clubs while also recommending a dialogue with the four potential bidders, who had attended pre-bid meetings. The Court agreed on Mehta’s request for time to come up with a solution and said it would again hear the matter after two weeks, keeping in mind AIFF’s current 15-year commercial partnership with Reliance-subsidiary FSDL ends on 8th December. The AIFF, having pledged to submit an affidavit to the Court, has called for a special general meeting to vote on the disputed co-existing membership on 24th November.
East Bengal concede a 2-0 defeat against Wuhan Jiangda in the AFC Women’s Champions League
Chinese star Wang Shuang steered her team, Wuhan Jiangda, to a convincing 2-0 victory against East Bengal, scoring a brace in their AFC Women’s Champions League group-stage match in Wuhan, China, on Thursday. Wuhan Jiangda, last season’s Champions League winner, drew 1-1 with Uzbek side Nasa in its opening group stage match. In their next outing against Indian champion East Bengal, Wang Shuang stood out by scoring once from open play and once from the penalty spot. Wuhan Jiangda started strongly, pressing forward from the start. Within eight minutes, Shuang scored after receiving a cross from Song Fei and steering the ball past Panthoi Chanu. Up against a women’s football heavyweight, East Bengal chose to strengthen the rearguard, but another defensive error cost it dearly. Panthoi’s late challenge on Shuang saw the forward go down, and referee Kim Yu Jeong pointed to the spot. Shuang, an Asian Games silver medallist and a four-time Chinese Women’s Footballer of the Year, used all her experience, sending Panthoi to the wrong side, doubling the lead. The win helped Wuhan Jiangda climb to the top of its group stage standings with four points from two matches, while East Bengal is second with three points after two rounds after second round. They need at least a draw against Nasaf in their next match on 23rd November to ensure a berth in the quarterfinals.
Javier Siverio and Aakash Sangwan highlight the persistent issues in Indian football following the team’s recent loss to Bangladesh
Once again, Indian football is under fire after a disastrous defeat against Bangladesh in the Asian Cup qualifier, which was only of academic interest as both teams have already crashed out of the qualification for the main round. Social media is being filled with severe criticisms from football lovers, as their focus is on the players’ lackluster performance in the match held on Tuesday in Dhaka. Many supporters expressed their wrath, pointing out individual failure, questioning effort, desire, and commitment. Frustration flooded social media. However, the players decided to address the situation honestly. Their responses were not defensive. Instead, they highlighted why Indian football continues to sink into these cycles of disappointment. Even, Spanish footballer of FC Goa, Javier Siverio, opened up on the Indian players’ miserable performance. He stated, “Players aren’t the reason the system is falling apart”. Aakash Sangwan also emphasized the depth of the structural cracks. Instead of directly defending the team, he pointed to the long list of issues that define a typical season for most professionals now. He highlighted how the top division itself hangs in uncertainty, with no clear investment, no confirmed bidders, and barely any communication from those in charge. Players, he suggested, often find themselves signing contracts only to be told days later that there is nothing to train for. He implied that casual comments about technique or effort only scratch the surface. The real damage, Sangwan hinted, lies in the broken framework surrounding the sport, a framework that leaves players guessing about their futures and battling far more than what happens over ninety minutes on the pitch.
Minerva Academy plans to utilize the new AIFF rule; scouts 17 potential ‘PIO’ boys from England!
Sudeep Pakrashi: Minerva Academy has taken a unique initiative to bring potential young footballers holding Passport of Indian Origin (PIO) to India and nurture them, looking forward to the future of Indian football. The academy director, Ranjit Bajaj, revealed that he has already scouted 17 potential players from England in the under-17 and under-18 age groups. The All India Football Federation (AIFF) is going to introduce a new rule in the AIFF Youth Leagues from next season, where every participating team in the Youth League can field two PIOs. Bajaj, when asked about the issue, divulged, “We have plans to utilize the AIFF’s new policy. So I started researching and exploring the potential of those boys, holding Passports of Indian Origin (PIOs). I found most of the PIOs are in England, the UAE, and Canada. A significant part of my research work is that several Indians are presently living in these countries for their respective jobs, and I have found that some of their sons are truly potential. But those students study under the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) education system. We have already planned to introduce the GCSE education system in Minerva Academy School so that the students can continue their studies and football in India.” Minerva Academy FC, the only academy to have won all age-group national titles in the same year and also back-to-back champions in the AIFF sub-junior league in 2023-24 and 2024-25, wants to include two PIOs in their AIFF Youth League matches next season. In a bid to make the final selection, Ranjit Bajaj will again travel to the UAE at the end of this month. “We have scouted 17 potential PIO boys from England and will scout from the UAE and Canada later. If I can nurture those boys in our academy under the guidance of top-quality foreign coaches, then, looking forward to the future, who will ultimately benefit? It is Indian football.” Minerva Academy FC director simultaneously mentioned a few boys who drew his attention. “I found one boy named Bains. He learned the basics of the game at Liverpool Academy, and he looked extremely promising. I found one 16-year-old boy named R. Lobo. He is the nephew of former Indian international Kevin Lobo. He also looked talented. My plans are to bring them and play for Minerva Academy in the AIFF Youth Leagues,”concluded Bajaj.
The implementation of the ‘representation clause’ will detach AIFF from the initiatives for grass-roots development, says IFA secretary
Sudeep Pakrashi: The All India Football Federation’s state units have refused to accept the contentious ‘representation clause’ that was up for adoption under the Supreme Court’s directive. Indian Football Association (IFA) is one of the state associations that has already sent a reply to the AIFF letter, mentioning that the implementation of Article 25.3 (d) will detach the All India Football Federation (AIFF) from its initiatives for the development of grassroots football across the country. IFA secretary Anirban Dutta, when asked about the issue, said, “If the new rule is implemented for the post of office-bearers, then I have no objection. I agree that an office-bearer cannot hold chairs in both the state association and simultaneously in the AIFF. But, if the law is applied to the post of the executive committee, then I have an objection, and we have sent a reply explaining the disadvantages.” Dutta explained, “You have to understand the most important aspect that the executive committee does not execute policies. The members work as advisors, and they are the representatives of their respective state associations who are involved in everyday affairs in football in their states. They gain the knowledge of what to do for the development and how to do it. They have the knowledge about how football, especially the youth development programs, are going on in their respective states, and the need to develop them further. So, in an executive committee meeting, those state association representatives get the opportunity to share their activities, and the requirements for the progress of the game.” He continued, “Now, if you remove the state association representatives from AIFF’s executive committee, then AIFF will be completely detached from the mainstream football, especially from the development programs of the game.” Article 25.3 (d) states: “In the event that a person is elected as an Office-Bearer in a Member Association and holds a position of an Office-Bearer in the Executive Committee of the AIFF, he/she shall automatically be deemed to have vacated his/her position in the Member Association.” However, when asked whether IFA has plans to seek any help for the development of football in Bengal from legendary Lothar Matthaus, the ambassador of the forthcoming Bengal Super League (BSL), Dutta revealed, “We did not have time for any such discussion on Sunday regarding the matter. But I was highly impressed by his one key advice, ‘training the trainers’ for the ultimate progress of the game. I feel Indian football does not have adequate quality coaches’ educators. So, I have a desire to discuss about the coaches’ training programs with Matthaus when he comes to Kolkata in December, likely.”
East Bengal start in style in the AFC Women’s Champions League
East Bengal started their campaign in the AFC Women’s Champions League (AFC WCL) in style, trouncing Iran’s Bam Khatoon in Wuhan, China, on Monday. Shilky Hemam, Fazila Ikwaput, and Resty Nanziri scored to give the Red and Golds a crucial opening victory. The match started brightly for East Bengal. In the fourth minute, Hemam struck from the edge of the box after Ikwaput’s efforts were blocked. The early breakthrough allowed the Indian side to control possession and dictate the tempo. Bam Khatoon responded with long-range attempts from Sara Didar and Fatemeh Geraeli, but they failed to trouble goalkeeper Panthoi Chanu. East Bengal doubled its lead in the 32nd minute when Amnah Nababi delivered a precise pass to Ikwaput, who calmly finished past Raha Yazdani. Just before halftime, Bam Khatoon pulled one back through Mona Hamoudi’s penalty after a Jyoti Chouhan handball. The Iranian side showed more intent in the second half, but their efforts from distance lacked conviction. East Bengal regained control late in the game. Ikwaput hit the post in the 79th minute and forced Yazdani into a save soon after. Nanziri sealed the result in the 87th minute with a stunning long-range strike that dipped over the goalkeeper. Coach Anthony Andrews will now prepare his side for the next Group B fixtures against China’s Wuhan Jiangda on November 20 and Uzbekistan’s Nasaf on November 23. With the top two teams qualifying directly for the quarterfinals, East Bengal’s strong start boosts its chances of progressing further in the competition.
Norway in World Cup finals after 27 years: Trounce Italy 4-1 in the all-important qualifier
Erling Haaland, ‘the man with golden feet’, steered his country to the finals of the 2026 World Cup after a gap of 27 long years! Norway qualified for the World Cup finals 2026 on Sunday, drubbing Italy 4-1 in its final qualifier, leaving the host in deep trouble to push them into the playoffs, which it has missed out on in the last two editions of the tournament. Norway ended qualifying with eight wins, finishing six points ahead of four-time World Cup winner Italy, which will compete in the playoffs for the third consecutive time. Needing a nine-goal win because of Norway’s superior goal difference, the Italians started aggressively and scored first when Francesco Pio Esposito finished from close range just after the 10-minute mark. The host was dominant until the last minutes of the first half and went close to a second goal several times, with Norway having only a half-chance when a shot from Antonio Nusa went over the bar. However, it was a completely different Norway in the second half, and Nusa equalized in the 63rd minute with a left-foot finish from inside the box. With Norway in control in the closing stages, Italy paid the price for leaving Haaland unmarked in the box in the 78th minute as he met a cross and volleyed home with ease. Haaland then wrapped up the match with a second goal a minute later, taking his tally for the campaign to 16. Jorgen Strand Larsen scored the fourth in stoppage time for the visitors, who showed they would be no pushovers at next year’s tournament.
