The Indian football suffered a serious setback when the 48 years old club Mahindra United decided to disband. Things are not going well for other clubs as well. According to reports, Viva Kerala and Mumbai FC may follow the Mahindra United way. Moreover with question mark over the commencement of the next I-League, Essel Group backed Mumbai FC hasn’t contacted any of their players from last season for a contract extension.
It is learnt that, they have pass on message internally to their players to opt for other clubs if they get attractive package. The Mahindra’s would rather like to invest in developing football in grassroots’ level as they feel they were contributing nothing to the nation with the club said Mahindra United's president Alan Durante
On the other hand, Viva Kerala has their owner Liquat Ali in critical condition after he suffered multiple heart strokes. Over that the club hasn't done much in the transfer market to strengthen their team and is yet to approach their players and that has put the future of the club in jeopardy.
Moreover, UB group, who sponsors Mohun Bagan and East Bengal are also thinking to go the Mahindra way as they are not reaping their investment. Both the clubs get around Rs 50-70 Million a year from UB Group. Fraser Castellino, Chief Operating Officer of sports marketing business of UB Group, made it clear that the All India football Federation (AIFF) has a lot of work to do in revamping the I-league if they don’t want corporates shutting down clubs in future.
Samir Thapar, managing director of JCT, which owns the JCT football club, also expressed his displeasure with the way the I-League is being run by the AIFF. The I-League has no charm and value and is not being run in a professional way. I am not sure how long we would be able to sustain,” Thapar had said.AIFF officials admitted that there are problems with the I-League and AIFF President, Praful Patel have also admitted that we need to revamp the I-League from the next session. We are working with sponsors and broadcasters to package and market the I-League in a better way.”
However, all is not bad for Bengal as a passionate football lover and a corporate consultant have together made fantastic efforts to field a new professional football club from Bengal. Kaushik Moulik, a business professional, who conceptualize Oliver Kahn farewell match in Kolkata is all set to launch the club FC Bengal within a month.
Ever since Bayern Munich Kolkata’s visit, the German club has become an integral part of Kolkata football. For the last two years, more than 20 kids were sent to Germany to receive training from their academy which has also produced the 2010 World Cup Golden Boot winner Thomas Mueller.
The plan is to give a platform to those kids who returned from their training in Germany by creating a football club for them. Now with these special kids, we shall play in the Kolkata League and I-league, all depending on the Football Association’s decision though" said the excited Kaushik Moulik.
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