Super League Kerala table-toppers Calicut FC aspires to reach pinnacle of Indian football ecosystem
Calicut FC, the current table-toppers of the Super League Kerala, has set its sights high. As the first team to reach the league’s semifinals and a clear favourite to win the title again, its ambitions extend far beyond the current season.
“One of our goals is to participate in the I-League, we are preparing ourselves to get the capability to reach that level. And the next goal is naturally the ISL,” said V.K. Mathews, the owner of Calicut FC, in a chat with Sportstar here on Monday.
“Essentially, how do we make football a bit more sensitised and make Calicut FC as the club for Kerala, quite similar to (Kerala) Blasters. And the major difference will be, Calicut FC will have more Kerala in it than Blasters in all aspects.”
The club has ambitious plans, and if all the formalities are met, would like to be in the I-League by next year.
The club has Kozhikode’s EMS Corporation Stadium as its home ground and for a start is planning to improve its training facilities.
“Next year, we will have our own training ground. It will be in Kozhikode but we’ll look at Kochi as well. Getting a practice ground is not that difficult and we need to have a swimming pool and other facilities. And we must have an academy connected to it,” said Mathews, the executive chairman of IBS Software.
Mathews feels that it will take a few years for SLK clubs to break even.
“The franchise budget for a SLK club is somewhat the same level as the I-League. I don’t think (SLK) clubs will break even in the first three years. The financial success of this depends on the viewership, the viewership has to go up. For that, we have to sensitise and get more and more people interested in the Super League. One of the ways of doing it is how deeply we are involved with the community, the schools, the academies...when the boys and girls from academies come, then the viewership will go up.”
Meanwhile Ian Andrew Gillan, Calicut’s head coach, feels the SLK – India’s long State league that allows foreign players – could be a good model for the other States to follow.
“You can probably reduce the number of foreign players but you need foreigners to raise the standard of Indian players and to make the league attractive,” said Gillan.
Gillan has worked with football clubs in Australia, Indonesia and Nepal and feels that India needs more facilities for the sport.
“With your massive population, if you can embrace that by providing the facilities, give the kids a game and you’ll develop better,” he said.
apparenlty these were the least prefferred clubs for me to make it to the finals. i wanted malappuram fc and trivnadrum kombans to make it because of the fans support they are getting and how it can put those places on Indian football map on future.
Football king Calicut takes home Super League Kerala crown
The host downs Forca Kochi 2-1 to win the inaugural edition of the tournament much to the delight of the crowd
It looked like a night from the glorious past. The night also offered hope for the future.
The Corporation Stadium was brimming over with football fans, some 36,000 of them. They made plenty of noise; they had a good reason, too. Calicut FC, the host, emerged as the champion in the inaugural edition of the Super League Kerala, beating Forca Kochi 2-1 in the final on Sunday.
This city is known for its love of football, but the affair, it seemed, had cooled off quite a bit over the last several years. On this memorable night, however, men like I.M. Vijayan, the former India captain who was at the stadium where he scored one of his most memorable goals, would have been reminded of the glory days of Kozhikode football.
The final matched the occasion, too. And Calicut, which had finished on top of the league table, was the deserving winner.
The opening goal came in the 15th minute, with Thoi Singh, a serial winner of trophies in Indian football, giving the perfect finishing off a swift move down the left by John Kennedy. The Brazilian charged into the box after receiving a through ball and gave a superb pass to Thoi, right in front of the box.
The second goal came after the interval, off a free-kick, with Kervens Belfort chesting down the ball and slamming into the net. That virtually settled the issue, and Dorielton’s goal in injury-time was, of course, a bit too late.
Not everything that happened reflected the city’s football tradition, though. In one of the most bizarre incidents you could imagine, a fan broke into the field and took a selfie with Belfort shortly after he scored. That would have looked more probable from seven-a-side football, which is so popular in neighbouring Malappuram.
The result: Calicut FC 2 (Thoi 15, Belfort 71) bt Forca Kochi 1 (Dorielton 90+3).
Goal: Can Super League Kerala set a template in football that can be replicated across the country?
No, this is not the first line of one of those stereotypically bad jokes. Rather, it’s the mildly surprising subset of the cast of owners of teams in the Super League Kerala football tournament.
Gowri Lakshmi Bayi, a member of the former royal family of Travancore, is one of the owners of Thiruvananthapuram Kombans FC. Mahesh Bhupathi, one half of one of the world’s most successful tennis doubles partnerships has picked up Kochi Pipers FC. Kaz Patafta, a former Australian footballer, has put his money behind Thrissur Roar FC.
The tournament, which has surprised a few by attracting significant viewership outside its targeted demographic, is a test case in many ways. In its first year, it is the only state league to get permission from the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to field foreign players.
Typically, the AIFF does not allow foreigners in state leagues but, in this case, many contracts were already signed and there was a bit at stake and a proof of concept to be trialled, and an exception was made.
The league, which came with a prize pot of Rs 1 crore for the winners, began on September 7 and featured 33 matches in Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode and Malappuram. Like many other leagues, it featured six teams.
One of the themes that was stressed, in the run-up to the league, was that this would reinvigorate grassroots football in Kerala, one of three traditional bastions of the sport in the country, alongside Bengal and Goa.
CORNER OF A LOCAL FIELD
John Gregory, the Englishman who coached Chennaiyin FC when they won the Indian Super League (ISL) title in 2017, was back in harness after a break, this time with Malappuram FC. “After my time with Chennaiyin FC, I took a break to recharge and reflect on my coaching journey. During this period, I realised how much I missed the game and the excitement of working closely with players,” said Gregory. “India, particularly Malappuram, offers a unique and vibrant footballing environment that's full of potential and passion. The opportunity to return to a place where football is so deeply cherished and to contribute to its growth was something I couldn’t pass up.”
Gregory believed that the tournament had the potential to do a lot for the game in India. “Super League Kerala is an exciting development for the region’s football landscape. With my experience in the ISL, I believe a local league featuring foreign players can be incredibly beneficial,” said Gregory. “It not only raises the level of competition but also helps in developing local talent by providing them with valuable exposure and experience.”
While his words were music to the ears of the promoters of the tournament, the proof, as they say, is in the pudding. This is only the first edition of this tournament, and it is not immediately clear if the gains are filtering down to the grassroots in a significant manner.
One clear gain is in growing the audience for football, which, while growing rapidly in urban India as a participatory sport and has loyal audiences in certain regions of the country, still faces many challenges.
“The response has been phenomenal, both from within Kerala and beyond. The viewership for the rest of India was four times that of Kerala,” says Mathew Joseph, chief executive officer of the league. Each match attracted 6-7 lakh viewers, and while this number compares unfavourably against any cricket metric, it is not insignificant for the first edition of a state football league. These numbers are from the Star Sports TV broadcast and do not include streaming on their online platform. On top of this, Manorama Max broadcasted the matches to West Asia, which has a significant Malayali and Indian population.
More people watching any kind of Indian football can only be a good thing. You go to any coaching centre in a metro in India, and out of 11 players on the park you’ll be sure to find nine Messi jerseys, one Mbappe and then an outlier. But you would be hard-pressed to find a Bhaichung Bhutia or Sunil Chhetri shirt.
Ever since the English Premier League (EPL), the La Liga, the Bundesliga and similar top competitions started getting beamed into Indian homes via cable television, about three decades ago, they have been received with eagerness. Fans were hungry to watch top-flight football and, ironically, it’s cheaper to follow a tournament such as the EPL in India than in most geographies, even the home country of the competition. However, the flipside of this is that the fan who has access to the best of the best didn’t quite take to domestic competitions in the same manner.
The reasons for this are more than just a matter of quality of speed of play, or musculature, or skill. For one, aside from clubs such as Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting, few Indian clubs boast the rich history of their English counterparts. While Manchester City may be the flavour of the moment, an Ipswich Town supporter is not going to jettison her Tractor Boys based on wins and losses. In all likelihood, she comes from a long line of sufferers who have always supported the team. This loyalty to clubs simply does not exist in India.
In Asia, it is typically the national team that generates the most interest. But, even here, India is at a disadvantage. With cricket attracting the lion’s share of eyeballs and therefore sponsorship rupees, football is left looking for ways to generate money. This is different from a country like Iraq, even, that may have fewer resources, but ploughs a big share of that into football. The infrastructure simply isn’t there: several ISL teams don’t even have a home ground; most teams play in stadiums they do not own.
In that sense, the Super League Kerala approach is a counter-intuitive one. Instead of waiting for the national team’s success to act as a catalyst at the bottom— a top-down approach—Kerala has set a goal to strengthen the base of the pyramid. It’s worth remembering that over 200 countries play football, but fewer than 10 teams have won the World Cup. Just as this does not stop the beautiful game from being the No. 1 sport in countless countries, the hope is that Super League Kerala can buck the trend and strengthen the game, setting up a template that can be replicated across this vast country.
Again the Same debate has started. Whats this glitz we all are so attached to? This will last, just like Isl, a few years, and then everyone will loose Hope. How a 1 month tournament for Lower division( as aiff suggested for state leagues to be tier 4), will be professionally helpful for fringe Or Young players? Same debate again and again and again. Benal Used to churn out players for national team because of a rigorous 7 months league, why can't we always go back to basics
You can't keep Players and Staff engaged for 7-8 months without money.!! For that, we need an ecosystem, and I hope this is a start.! I don't know about other regions, but in Kerala, ISL has changed so much that a parent will let his kid become a footballer. They know that someone can live happily being a footballer.!! And not just 11 players and a coach make a team—there are other people behind the curtains running the show. We need more people doing that. There should be more employment opportunities in football!!
Having an ecosystem is the first thing...since we are a century behind in global football we have to live that century in half the time with this ecosystem to become a competent team.
Its just a mask over actuals. Why Same eco system cannot be developed for actual player development. Believe me a 7 months long Bengal league had enormous amt of support from people, flocking to the grounds in every match. Same has dwindled down due to lack of games. The entire Bengal football in culture has collapsed and we can clearly see why. When your players dont play games, slowly quality gies down and bringing down the prodyct as a whole. A 1 month tournament is good, provided you also have the structure around it. You can't build An identity with short term goals and ecology. Why am I saying all this again, no pint it seems.
So what does the players (and the coaches, and the refs, and the support staff) do for the rest 11 months of the year? Ply auto rikshaws in the streets of Kochi and Trivandrum?
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Super League Kerala table-toppers Calicut FC aspires to reach pinnacle of Indian football ecosystem
Calicut FC, the current table-toppers of the Super League Kerala, has set its sights high. As the first team to reach the league’s semifinals and a clear favourite to win the title again, its ambitions extend far beyond the current season.
“One of our goals is to participate in the I-League, we are preparing ourselves to get the capability to reach that level. And the next goal is naturally the ISL,” said V.K. Mathews, the owner of Calicut FC, in a chat with Sportstar here on Monday.
“Essentially, how do we make football a bit more sensitised and make Calicut FC as the club for Kerala, quite similar to (Kerala) Blasters. And the major difference will be, Calicut FC will have more Kerala in it than Blasters in all aspects.”
The club has ambitious plans, and if all the formalities are met, would like to be in the I-League by next year.
The club has Kozhikode’s EMS Corporation Stadium as its home ground and for a start is planning to improve its training facilities.
“Next year, we will have our own training ground. It will be in Kozhikode but we’ll look at Kochi as well. Getting a practice ground is not that difficult and we need to have a swimming pool and other facilities. And we must have an academy connected to it,” said Mathews, the executive chairman of IBS Software.
Mathews feels that it will take a few years for SLK clubs to break even.
“The franchise budget for a SLK club is somewhat the same level as the I-League. I don’t think (SLK) clubs will break even in the first three years. The financial success of this depends on the viewership, the viewership has to go up. For that, we have to sensitise and get more and more people interested in the Super League. One of the ways of doing it is how deeply we are involved with the community, the schools, the academies...when the boys and girls from academies come, then the viewership will go up.”
Meanwhile Ian Andrew Gillan, Calicut’s head coach, feels the SLK – India’s long State league that allows foreign players – could be a good model for the other States to follow.
“You can probably reduce the number of foreign players but you need foreigners to raise the standard of Indian players and to make the league attractive,” said Gillan.
Gillan has worked with football clubs in Australia, Indonesia and Nepal and feels that India needs more facilities for the sport.
“With your massive population, if you can embrace that by providing the facilities, give the kids a game and you’ll develop better,” he said.
https://sportstar.thehindu.com/football/indian-football/calicut-fc-super-league-kerala-club-i-league-isl-aspiration-vk-mathews-club-owner-head-coach-ian-gillan/article68780201.ece
It all comes down to the final battle on Sunday.
Who’ll emerge as the first CHAMPIONS of inaugural Super League Kerala season?
https://x.com/90ndstoppage/status/1854213391625396334
Football king Calicut takes home Super League Kerala crown
The host downs Forca Kochi 2-1 to win the inaugural edition of the tournament much to the delight of the crowd
It looked like a night from the glorious past. The night also offered hope for the future.
The Corporation Stadium was brimming over with football fans, some 36,000 of them. They made plenty of noise; they had a good reason, too. Calicut FC, the host, emerged as the champion in the inaugural edition of the Super League Kerala, beating Forca Kochi 2-1 in the final on Sunday.
This city is known for its love of football, but the affair, it seemed, had cooled off quite a bit over the last several years. On this memorable night, however, men like I.M. Vijayan, the former India captain who was at the stadium where he scored one of his most memorable goals, would have been reminded of the glory days of Kozhikode football.
The opening goal came in the 15th minute, with Thoi Singh, a serial winner of trophies in Indian football, giving the perfect finishing off a swift move down the left by John Kennedy. The Brazilian charged into the box after receiving a through ball and gave a superb pass to Thoi, right in front of the box.
The second goal came after the interval, off a free-kick, with Kervens Belfort chesting down the ball and slamming into the net. That virtually settled the issue, and Dorielton’s goal in injury-time was, of course, a bit too late.
Not everything that happened reflected the city’s football tradition, though. In one of the most bizarre incidents you could imagine, a fan broke into the field and took a selfie with Belfort shortly after he scored. That would have looked more probable from seven-a-side football, which is so popular in neighbouring Malappuram.
The result: Calicut FC 2 (Thoi 15, Belfort 71) bt Forca Kochi 1 (Dorielton 90+3).
https://www.thehindu.com/sport/football/super-league-kerala-final-calicut-forca-kochi/article68853432.ece
Goal: Can Super League Kerala set a template in football that can be replicated across the country?
Gowri Lakshmi Bayi, a member of the former royal family of Travancore, is one of the owners of Thiruvananthapuram Kombans FC. Mahesh Bhupathi, one half of one of the world’s most successful tennis doubles partnerships has picked up Kochi Pipers FC. Kaz Patafta, a former Australian footballer, has put his money behind Thrissur Roar FC.
The tournament, which has surprised a few by attracting significant viewership outside its targeted demographic, is a test case in many ways. In its first year, it is the only state league to get permission from the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to field foreign players.
Typically, the AIFF does not allow foreigners in state leagues but, in this case, many contracts were already signed and there was a bit at stake and a proof of concept to be trialled, and an exception was made.
The league, which came with a prize pot of Rs 1 crore for the winners, began on September 7 and featured 33 matches in Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode and Malappuram. Like many other leagues, it featured six teams.
One of the themes that was stressed, in the run-up to the league, was that this would reinvigorate grassroots football in Kerala, one of three traditional bastions of the sport in the country, alongside Bengal and Goa.
John Gregory, the Englishman who coached Chennaiyin FC when they won the Indian Super League (ISL) title in 2017, was back in harness after a break, this time with Malappuram FC. “After my time with Chennaiyin FC, I took a break to recharge and reflect on my coaching journey. During this period, I realised how much I missed the game and the excitement of working closely with players,” said Gregory. “India, particularly Malappuram, offers a unique and vibrant footballing environment that's full of potential and passion. The opportunity to return to a place where football is so deeply cherished and to contribute to its growth was something I couldn’t pass up.”
Gregory believed that the tournament had the potential to do a lot for the game in India. “Super League Kerala is an exciting development for the region’s football landscape. With my experience in the ISL, I believe a local league featuring foreign players can be incredibly beneficial,” said Gregory. “It not only raises the level of competition but also helps in developing local talent by providing them with valuable exposure and experience.”
While his words were music to the ears of the promoters of the tournament, the proof, as they say, is in the pudding. This is only the first edition of this tournament, and it is not immediately clear if the gains are filtering down to the grassroots in a significant manner.
One clear gain is in growing the audience for football, which, while growing rapidly in urban India as a participatory sport and has loyal audiences in certain regions of the country, still faces many challenges.
“The response has been phenomenal, both from within Kerala and beyond. The viewership for the rest of India was four times that of Kerala,” says Mathew Joseph, chief executive officer of the league. Each match attracted 6-7 lakh viewers, and while this number compares unfavourably against any cricket metric, it is not insignificant for the first edition of a state football league. These numbers are from the Star Sports TV broadcast and do not include streaming on their online platform. On top of this, Manorama Max broadcasted the matches to West Asia, which has a significant Malayali and Indian population.
More people watching any kind of Indian football can only be a good thing. You go to any coaching centre in a metro in India, and out of 11 players on the park you’ll be sure to find nine Messi jerseys, one Mbappe and then an outlier. But you would be hard-pressed to find a Bhaichung Bhutia or Sunil Chhetri shirt.
Ever since the English Premier League (EPL), the La Liga, the Bundesliga and similar top competitions started getting beamed into Indian homes via cable television, about three decades ago, they have been received with eagerness. Fans were hungry to watch top-flight football and, ironically, it’s cheaper to follow a tournament such as the EPL in India than in most geographies, even the home country of the competition. However, the flipside of this is that the fan who has access to the best of the best didn’t quite take to domestic competitions in the same manner.
The reasons for this are more than just a matter of quality of speed of play, or musculature, or skill. For one, aside from clubs such as Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting, few Indian clubs boast the rich history of their English counterparts. While Manchester City may be the flavour of the moment, an Ipswich Town supporter is not going to jettison her Tractor Boys based on wins and losses. In all likelihood, she comes from a long line of sufferers who have always supported the team. This loyalty to clubs simply does not exist in India.
In Asia, it is typically the national team that generates the most interest. But, even here, India is at a disadvantage. With cricket attracting the lion’s share of eyeballs and therefore sponsorship rupees, football is left looking for ways to generate money. This is different from a country like Iraq, even, that may have fewer resources, but ploughs a big share of that into football. The infrastructure simply isn’t there: several ISL teams don’t even have a home ground; most teams play in stadiums they do not own.
In that sense, the Super League Kerala approach is a counter-intuitive one. Instead of waiting for the national team’s success to act as a catalyst at the bottom— a top-down approach—Kerala has set a goal to strengthen the base of the pyramid. It’s worth remembering that over 200 countries play football, but fewer than 10 teams have won the World Cup. Just as this does not stop the beautiful game from being the No. 1 sport in countless countries, the hope is that Super League Kerala can buck the trend and strengthen the game, setting up a template that can be replicated across this vast country.
And not just 11 players and a coach make a team—there are other people behind the curtains running the show. We need more people doing that. There should be more employment opportunities in football!!
So what does the players (and the coaches, and the refs, and the support staff) do for the rest 11 months of the year? Ply auto rikshaws in the streets of Kochi and Trivandrum?