Indian Women’s League Launched-Six Teams in the Inaugural Edition

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All India Football Federation (AIFF), the governing body of the sport in the country today (January 24, 2017) launched the first ever Women’s Professional League which is to be contested among six Teams.All matches of the two-week Indian Women’s League (IWL) will be played at Delhi’s Ambedkar Stadium with the first match scheduled for January 28th,2017

Bengaluru who go down 2-1 to East Bengal at the Barasat Stadium.

I-League: Day Summary 1. Shillong Lajong get their first win of the season with a victory over slippery Minerva Punjab. 2. Sony Norde and Jeje Lalpekhlua were on target as Mohun Bagan complete a 2nd half comeback against Chennai City. 3. Churchill Brothers' Adil Khan scored a late equalizer to spoil DSK Shivajians party.

Mohammedan Sporting Club started their campaign in the 2016-17 2nd Division League with a 0-2 defeat to Southern Samity on Saturday.

Aizawl FC wins the first leg of the North East Derby today by 2-1.

Mohun Bagan 4:0 Minerva Punjab FC : Duffy,Jeje scores 2 goals each to hammer Minerva 4-0 securing three straight wins for Mariners

India is in POT 2 of the AFC Asian Cup 2019 Round 3 Qualification! The Draw will take place on 23rd January in Abu Dhabi!

Mohun Bagan 2 (Darryl Duffy 21′, 77′) vs 0 Shillong Lajong FC : Double Duffy strike powers Mohun Bagan top of I league table with two in two wins at home

A last minute court order allowed Mohun Bagan to play their second home game at the Rabindra Sarobar stadium after days of uncertainty but due to security constrains police allowed a mere 4500 tickets to be sold apart from general members as Mohun Bagan turned up in the Rabindra Sarobar  in-front of a paltry crowd against the Lajong. There was nip in the air and so was Bagan forward Daryll Duffy who produced a sublime finish in 21st minute in the Lajong box to give Bagan a much needed early lead. Lajong side looked unorganized as the newly formed team could not get grip of the game as Sehnaj, Rainier and Shouvik Chakraborty controlled the midfield marshaling while Katsumi was troubling the Lajong side backs with his darting runs down the flanks. Balwant partnering Duffy up front had some nice chances but failed to find the back of the net as Lajong looked mainly to get Bagan on the break. Both sides went into the break with Bagan leading 1-0 at the interval. In the second half Lajong  tried to make some inroads with Fabio Pena wasting some good heading opportunities as Lajong looked dangerous and likely to find equalizers through their wing play. Sanjoy Sen made some tactical chances bringing in Prabir Das as a extra cover to stop the crosses flying down the right flank and Prannoy in place of injured Sehnaj to funnel the Lajong attack.Mohun Bagan needed a insurance goal as they were living dangerously with the 1-0 slender margin but to the much relief of home crowd the second goal cushion of the evening came late at 77' as Duffy found the back of the net latching onto an opportunity of chaos in the box as Lajong failed to clear the ball at the closing stages. Mohun Bagan consolidated their position top of the table with two wins in two games with 6 points and will be hopeful to make it three in their next game as they face dubutants Minerva Punjab FC next and their squad is expected to be bolstered by return of Haitian forward Sony Norde for the next fixture 

Indian football team jumps to record 129th position in FIFA ranking, 19th in Asia

Infantino defends 48 team World Cup as a 21st Century-looking, ‘football fever’ decision

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has defended the expansion of the World Cup to 48 teams, insisting the change from 32 was based on “sporting merit” and not a money-making exercise despite his need to find promised additional revenue for FIFA’s 211 members.

After the watchdog group New FIFA Now, which admittedly has its own vested interests, described the expansion in 2026, the first for 28 years, as “a money grab and power grab”,  Infantino told the BBC: “It is the opposite, it’s a football decision.”

“Every format has advantages in financial terms. We were in a comfortable situation to take a decision based on sporting merit.”

The European Clubs Association has also lambasted the decision to increase the number of finalists though it could be argued they don’t have much of a case given the fact that the burden on their prized assets will be no greater than at previous World Cups, with the tournament’s duration set to remain at 32 days.

“This is a historic decision which marks the entrance of the World Cup into the 21st Century so we have to shape a World Cup for the 21st century,” was Infantino’s barbed response to the ECA objections.

“We have to look into the future. Football is more than Europe and South America, it is global, and the FIFA Council felt this is positive and will help football development.  The game has changed. Football has now become a truly global game. Everyone is happy about investment in Europe, but what about helping outside Europe? They need to be open.

“Football fever that you have in a country that’s qualified is the biggest promotional tool you can have.”

The devil, of course, is in the detail and Infantino admits much of that detail has yet to be worked out in terms of how the larger cake will be cut. Most indications are that Europe will have its allocation increased to 16 finalists, with Africa having nine slots, Asia eight, CONCACAF 6.5 and CONMEBOL either 6.5 or 7.

There is no time scale for determining the extra places but “this will be looked at speedily”, said Infantino. “The only sure thing is that everyone will have a bit more representation than they have.”

He rejects the suggestion that the competitive nature of the tournament will be diluted. “Costa Rica eliminated England and Italy in the last World Cup, a good solid team and there are many other teams who could make it to the World Cup,” he told a media briefing after Tuesday’s Council session that unanimously approved expansion.

“I believe that the actual quality could rise, because many more countries will have the chance to qualify so they will invest in their elite football as well as grassroots.”

“We will play 32 days like now, we play maximum seven matches like now, 12 stadiums, like now, but give the chance for more countries to dream.”

Infantino pointed to last year’s expanded Euros as evidence of why his plan works for everyone, citing the performances of countries like Wales, Iceland and Northern Ireland who took full advantage of increased participation.

“It was the most interesting in the history of the European Championship. All the other teams started to believe in their chance to qualify and play matches with a different mindset that they could qualify. Qualifying created a whole new dynamic and hopefully we will do the same.”

Infantino could not resist having a sarcastic dig at German FA boss Reinhard Grindel, one of the few individual senior football officials to express opposition to expansion in public along with Spanish league boss Javier Tebas.

“Even if we organised a World Cup with only two teams one of them would be Germany because they are one of the top teams who qualify regularly but for other countries there are not so many opportunities to qualify,” said Infantino.

“I hope that, in time, they will see the benefit for the world. In the Bundesliga there are players from all around. It would be nice for those players also to have the opportunity to participate once in their lifetime in a World Cup.”

I-League: Balwant Singh goal gives Mohun Bagan A.C. win over Churchill Brothers,

There will be better comeback stories in sport but Balwant Singh will take this. Almost 11 months after he last played a competitive match because of injury, Balwant returned to action in Mohun Bagan’s opener of the 10th I-League against Churchill Brothers and 28 minutes later, his powerful header put Mohun Bagan ahead. It stayed that way despite Mohun Bagan looking rusty in front and playing with 10 men for 26 minutes after under-22 left-back Subhasish Bose marred his debut with bookings in the 55th and 64th minutes. The red card forced Mohun Bagan into sacrificing wide left Kean Lewis for left-back Prabir Das. With defensive midfielders Sehnaj Singh and Pronay Halder in the roster --- the two played 20 minutes on Sunday --- Mohun Bagan could struggle to end matches with 11 on the pitch in this edition. Sehnaj Singh stabbed Aniston Fernandes and escaped with a booking in the 43rd minute. Without any foreigners and with a team of young players, 
Churchill Brothers couldn’t exploit the advantage of an extra player but substitute Agnelo Colaco rocked the horizontal in second-half stoppage time. Earlier, Seriton Fernandes had driven wide after a communications break-down between Das and Mohun Bagan goalie Debjit Majumder. Balwant, who turned 30 on December 15, shares his birthday with Bhaichung Bhutia. His strike too would remind those old enough at the Barasat stadium of the many Bhutia scored, leaping to meet Pritam Kotal’s delivery from the right and connecting sweetly. 

Balwant Singh is “hands down” the best Indian striker, tweeted former teammate and Trinidad and Tobago international Cornell Glen and though Jeje Lalpekhlua, who was on the Mohun Bagan bench, could have something to say to that, for now the green-and-maroons would go along with the assertion. Balwant missed the third edition of the Indian Super League (ISL) because his left knee hadn’t healed since February 20 against Sporting Clube de Goa.
 The first Indian to score in ISL history had aggravated it by playing through pain and it needed constant supervision by Mohun Bagan’s Brazilian physio Djair Garcia Miranda to get the striker fit. In Kolkata, Garcia is known as Father Teresa for tending to injured players who are not with the club that employs him. And Singh, who joined Mohun Bagan after a stellar show with Churchill Brothers in 2013-14 when he scored 10 goals in 22 games, would surely owe Garcia a lot. Because he was without a club then.
  “It takes a lot of heart to come back after injury keeps you out for nearly a year. We can’t always play Balwant and Jeje together because there will be a foreign striker. Hopefully, this goal will give Balwant a lot of confidence,” said Sen.

East Bengal 1-1 Aizawl FC : Bukenya’s Last-Minute Strike Earns Red & Golds A Point

Bengaluru FC dishes out champion's stuff to beat Shillog Lajong 3-0 in opening day I league clash

71st Santosh Trophy 2017 North East Zone Results

Indian Women's teams win 4th Consecutive SAFF Women's Championship beating Bangladesh 3-1;INDIA 3 (Dangmei Grace – 12th, Sasmita Malik – 60th, Indumathi -- 67th) beat BANGLADESH 1 (Sirat Jahan Shopna – 40th)

India won their fourth consecutive SAFF Women’s Championship title when they beat Bangladesh 3-1 in the final of the 4th SAFF Women’s Championship at the Kanchenjunga Stadium in Siliguri on Wednesday (January 4, 2016). In the process, the golden girls now stay unbeaten in 19 matches having won 18 and drawn one.   
The first goal came early, as early as the 12th minute. Though it wasn’t a dream goal for any striker, scorer Dangmei Grace didn’t really mind when it touched her leg and slowly rolled into the empty net with rival Goalkeeper Sabina Akhtar caught in a dilemma.   It set the tone for the match. The match being a final meant that Bangladesh had to shrug off their defensive aspirations and that allowed India the width and space.  
 In the first 20 minutes, India had earned 4 corners and every time Bala Devi touched the ball, she created something out of nothing. In fact, Kamala Devi should have doubled the lead in the 17th minute when Bala set her a free-header, but it narrowly sailed out.   However, Bangladesh withstood the storm, regrouped, and eventually equalise in the40th minute throughShopna as both Teams headed to the interval locked 1-1.   
Changing over, India were again faster off the blocks. They pressed high and hard even as Bangladesh depended mostly on counter-attacks.  
 The break came in the 60th minute when the irrepressible Bala was pushed inside the box as the referee pointed to the spot. 2016 AIFF Player of the Year Sasmita Malik gleefully converted it.   With just 30 minutes remaining, it was quite a task for Bangladesh to come back. And it went worse for them seven minutes later when Goalkeeper Sabina, who was having a decent game till then, misjudged the bounce of a harmless Indumathi shot from long and it rolled in.  
 As India’s golden girls celebrated, Sabina hid her face in her gloves, quite understanding her mistake may rob her Country of the steam to fight back. Life at times can be so cruel.  
 Spurred, India did go all out as they smelt more. But this time, their perseverance didn’t yield any more goals.   It hardly mattered. It was fourth in a row for India, unbeaten in 19 matches and counting.