Is Stimac going to take this team to the Asian Games? Because he always talked about Kings Cup next.. our team will not be getting any Camp.. and seniors will definitely be rested
Kings Cup 8s around 9th September. Asian Games start from 24th Sept. Merdeka Cup, I think, is starting in 14-15th October. We can have a one single Camp 8n late August for all 3 events. The same set of players should be selected for these 3 events. Hopeful Chettri will be rested for these matches, except for Merdeka Cup when we'll face Iraq.
Downtown Srinagar to Durand: Story of how football became antidote to drugs
What started as a rag-tag team, consisting mostly of local players from the troubled area, would finish second in I-League 2 and is currently leading the Jammu & Kashmir Football Association (JKFA) Professional League
AN MBA from Srinagar’s Downtown, Hinan Manzoor can never forget meeting a school kid from his area who was addicted to drugs. The incident broke his heart. Later that evening, during a kahwa session, he and his friends decided to help the youngsters in the neighbourhood kick the habit that was spreading dangerously.
Within a year, Hinan and three of his buddies — NGO owner Irfan Shahmiri, ad man Mushtaq Bashir and activist Kaiser Bhat — would join hands to form a football club that they would call Downtown Heroes FC.
What started as a rag-tag team, consisting mostly of local players from the troubled area, would finish second in I-League 2 and is currently leading the Jammu & Kashmir Football Association (JKFA) Professional League.
Next month, the Srinagar club will be hitting the national football circuit and participating in the Durand Cup in Kokrajhar, Assam.
Hinan cites Udta Punjab, the hit Hindi movie based on Punjab’s drug problem, to explain the situation in Downtown Srinagar. “Our area has become like Udta Kashmir now,” says the 29-year-old. “Many think that Downtown Srinagar is like the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. Once it used to be the hub of everything, be it art, culture, sports or business. Over a period of time, because of turmoil and political instability, the Downtown changed. There is a perception that we carry guns all the time, and that’s not true.”
He went on to say that it was their conviction that sports has the power to effect change that made them start a football club. “The adage goes: ‘Be the change you wish to see in the world.’ Out of love for this place called Downtown, we decided to do something for our locality, and that’s how we came up with Downtown Heroes FC. Sport is the only thing that can keep the youth away from this poison,” he says.
Downtown FC coach Hilal Rasool Parray says the region has the potential to become a feeder for Indian football. He also says that the club has a larger responsibility. “We are a community-driven club. The talent here is massive and it is still untapped. But our main goal is to save our kids from the drug menace. We are focused on football but our priority is also to bring youngsters back to the classrooms,” says Hilal.
And to cater to this objective, the club’s training schedules are finalised so that their education is not hampered. “Three of our players are engineers, seven are pursuing undergraduate courses, nine or 10 are in school. We try to shape the football schedule in such a way that the kids can finish their studies in the morning and can hit the gym and do training sessions in the evening. The ultimate goal is to serve our community,” the coach says.
But the path had its own share of obstacles.
Downtown Heroes star player Shahmeer Tariq, a first-year electrical engineering student, is a fan of Manchester United midfielder Casemiro. In daily life, he has had to tackle several challenges. The 22-year-old talks about getting stopped by security forces while travelling for the club’s practice sessions.
“Rok lete hai kaafi baar (They have stopped us so many times). Now we are used to this,” he laughs. “The aim is to play for India and in the Indian Super League. We have massive fan support as well.”
Another player Moomin Bhat, 24, wants to get an MBA degree but also wants to become a role model for youngsters. “You won’t believe your eyes when you see a 10- or 11-year-old kid taking drugs. First I heard it from my peers, and then I saw it first-hand. It is scary. I don’t know what my career will be in the next five years but for now I just want to be someone who they can look up to,” Bhat says.
After Real Kashmir FC and Lonestar Kashmir FC, Downtown Heroes FC is the third football club to emerge from the state. What makes them unique is that they are playing football with a message. “Thirty years ago, whenever there used to be a football match, the entire Downtown used to turn up. People used to shut their shops and go to stadiums to watch the game. Football was so popular back then. In the last three decades, it has lost its charm, but now people are going back to football,” says Hinan.
“For the Durand Cup, 9 out of the 11 in the starting line-up are from Downtown. I want my players to play in the ISL, I-League and for India in the future. And above all, we are playing with a message: ‘We are just normal people, we are not evil’.”
This goal by Saikat Sarkar of Aryan FC against Calcutta Customs yesterday in the CFL has been recommended by IFA for the FIFA Puskás Award. The goal has already become viral in social media.
No Indian footballer has ever made it to the final list of the Puskás Award. If Saikat's goal does make it to the final list, it could create history in Indian football. Among Asian footballers, only Mohd Faiz Subri of Malaysia and Son Heung-min of South Korea have won this coveted award.
Saikat has played for CFL clubs Kidderpore SC, Calcutta Customs and Rainbow AC before: he has also played in the I-League for Real Kashmir. Aryan has won only one match in the CFL, that too courtesy Saikat's hat-trick. Having scored three goals in four matches, Saikat is also in contention for the highest goalscorer of the CFL. Saikat's father works as a gardener in a local nursery; the family of four primarily depends on his earnings. Saikat aims to play in some club in the ISL or I-league based on his performances in the CFL.
AIFF officials hold discussions with Hero I-League, Hero IWL clubs
The AIFF discussed the possibility of having the Hero I-League in different formats. A lengthy discussion was held on the pros and cons of the formats, which the AIFF management took note of. A decision on the same will be taken at a later date, taking into consideration, the opinions of all stakeholders.
The Hero I-League clubs were also advised to improve their pitch conditions and have compulsory floodlights for their matches.
A range of awards were also announced for the Hero I-League – Best Pitch, Best Match Organisation, and Best Media Activities. The winning prize for each category is Rs 2.5 lakh, while that of the runners-up is Rs 1.5 lakh.
The Hero I-League is tentatively likely to start in the first week of October.
The Hero IWL meeting began with the welcome news of Gokulam Kerala FC being allowed to participate in the AFC Women’s Club Championship (Pilot) 2023 after the AIFF requested the AFC to allow them to participate in the 2023 edition as the winners of the 2022-23 Hero Indian Women's League.
The 2023-24 women's football league season will consist of two tiers – the Hero IWL with eight teams playing on a home-and-away basis and a second division, which will comprise the remaining eight teams from the 2022-23 Hero IWL season and the state league winners. The top two teams of the second division will be promoted to the 2024-25 Hero IWL.
The clubs proposed their home stadiums for the 2023-24 Hero IWL season - Gokulam Kerala FC (EMS Corporation Stadium, Kozhikode), Kickstart FC (Bangalore Football Stadium, Bengaluru), Sethu FC (Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai), Sports Odisha (Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar), Odisha FC (Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar), HOPS FC (Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi) and East Bengal FC (East Bengal Ground, Kolkata).
The tentative dates suggested by the AIFF for the Hero IWL 2023-24 season are from November 18, 2023, to March 16, 2024.
I league clubs have rejected AIFF proposed conference format with 4 clubs threatening to withdraw if the format is implemented, I league clubs also rejected AIFF proposal to reduce foreginers in I league but keeping the same number in ISL
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Downtown Srinagar to Durand: Story of how football became antidote to drugs
What started as a rag-tag team, consisting mostly of local players from the troubled area, would finish second in I-League 2 and is currently leading the Jammu & Kashmir Football Association (JKFA) Professional League
AN MBA from Srinagar’s Downtown, Hinan Manzoor can never forget meeting a school kid from his area who was addicted to drugs. The incident broke his heart. Later that evening, during a kahwa session, he and his friends decided to help the youngsters in the neighbourhood kick the habit that was spreading dangerously.
Within a year, Hinan and three of his buddies — NGO owner Irfan Shahmiri, ad man Mushtaq Bashir and activist Kaiser Bhat — would join hands to form a football club that they would call Downtown Heroes FC.
What started as a rag-tag team, consisting mostly of local players from the troubled area, would finish second in I-League 2 and is currently leading the Jammu & Kashmir Football Association (JKFA) Professional League.
Next month, the Srinagar club will be hitting the national football circuit and participating in the Durand Cup in Kokrajhar, Assam.
Hinan cites Udta Punjab, the hit Hindi movie based on Punjab’s drug problem, to explain the situation in Downtown Srinagar. “Our area has become like Udta Kashmir now,” says the 29-year-old. “Many think that Downtown Srinagar is like the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. Once it used to be the hub of everything, be it art, culture, sports or business. Over a period of time, because of turmoil and political instability, the Downtown changed. There is a perception that we carry guns all the time, and that’s not true.”
He went on to say that it was their conviction that sports has the power to effect change that made them start a football club. “The adage goes: ‘Be the change you wish to see in the world.’ Out of love for this place called Downtown, we decided to do something for our locality, and that’s how we came up with Downtown Heroes FC. Sport is the only thing that can keep the youth away from this poison,” he says.
Downtown FC coach Hilal Rasool Parray says the region has the potential to become a feeder for Indian football. He also says that the club has a larger responsibility. “We are a community-driven club. The talent here is massive and it is still untapped. But our main goal is to save our kids from the drug menace. We are focused on football but our priority is also to bring youngsters back to the classrooms,” says Hilal.
But the path had its own share of obstacles.
Downtown Heroes star player Shahmeer Tariq, a first-year electrical engineering student, is a fan of Manchester United midfielder Casemiro. In daily life, he has had to tackle several challenges. The 22-year-old talks about getting stopped by security forces while travelling for the club’s practice sessions.
“Rok lete hai kaafi baar (They have stopped us so many times). Now we are used to this,” he laughs. “The aim is to play for India and in the Indian Super League. We have massive fan support as well.”
After Real Kashmir FC and Lonestar Kashmir FC, Downtown Heroes FC is the third football club to emerge from the state. What makes them unique is that they are playing football with a message. “Thirty years ago, whenever there used to be a football match, the entire Downtown used to turn up. People used to shut their shops and go to stadiums to watch the game. Football was so popular back then. In the last three decades, it has lost its charm, but now people are going back to football,” says Hinan.
“For the Durand Cup, 9 out of the 11 in the starting line-up are from Downtown. I want my players to play in the ISL, I-League and for India in the future. And above all, we are playing with a message: ‘We are just normal people, we are not evil’.”
https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/football/downtown-srinagar-to-durand-story-of-how-football-became-antidote-to-drugs-8847221/
This goal by Saikat Sarkar of Aryan FC against Calcutta Customs yesterday in the CFL has been recommended by IFA for the FIFA Puskás Award. The goal has already become viral in social media.
No Indian footballer has ever made it to the final list of the Puskás Award. If Saikat's goal does make it to the final list, it could create history in Indian football. Among Asian footballers, only Mohd Faiz Subri of Malaysia and Son Heung-min of South Korea have won this coveted award.
Saikat has played for CFL clubs Kidderpore SC, Calcutta Customs and Rainbow AC before: he has also played in the I-League for Real Kashmir. Aryan has won only one match in the CFL, that too courtesy Saikat's hat-trick. Having scored three goals in four matches, Saikat is also in contention for the highest goalscorer of the CFL. Saikat's father works as a gardener in a local nursery; the family of four primarily depends on his earnings. Saikat aims to play in some club in the ISL or I-league based on his performances in the CFL.
https://epaper.sangbadpratidin.in/epaper/m/749598/64b840a0c2d85
The AIFF discussed the possibility of having the Hero I-League in different formats. A lengthy discussion was held on the pros and cons of the formats, which the AIFF management took note of. A decision on the same will be taken at a later date, taking into consideration, the opinions of all stakeholders.
The Hero I-League clubs were also advised to improve their pitch conditions and have compulsory floodlights for their matches.
A range of awards were also announced for the Hero I-League – Best Pitch, Best Match Organisation, and Best Media Activities. The winning prize for each category is Rs 2.5 lakh, while that of the runners-up is Rs 1.5 lakh.
The Hero I-League is tentatively likely to start in the first week of October.
The Hero IWL meeting began with the welcome news of Gokulam Kerala FC being allowed to participate in the AFC Women’s Club Championship (Pilot) 2023 after the AIFF requested the AFC to allow them to participate in the 2023 edition as the winners of the 2022-23 Hero Indian Women's League.
The 2023-24 women's football league season will consist of two tiers – the Hero IWL with eight teams playing on a home-and-away basis and a second division, which will comprise the remaining eight teams from the 2022-23 Hero IWL season and the state league winners. The top two teams of the second division will be promoted to the 2024-25 Hero IWL.
The clubs proposed their home stadiums for the 2023-24 Hero IWL season - Gokulam Kerala FC (EMS Corporation Stadium, Kozhikode), Kickstart FC (Bangalore Football Stadium, Bengaluru), Sethu FC (Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai), Sports Odisha (Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar), Odisha FC (Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar), HOPS FC (Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi) and East Bengal FC (East Bengal Ground, Kolkata).
The tentative dates suggested by the AIFF for the Hero IWL 2023-24 season are from November 18, 2023, to March 16, 2024.
https://www.the-aiff.com/article/aiff-officials-hold-discussions-with-hero-i-league-hero-iwl-clubs