Sports Complex inaugurated by West Bengal Law Minister Rabi Lal Moitra

Kolkata, 7 Feb: West Bengal Law Minister Rabi Lal Moitra on Saturday inaugurated a multi-purpose sports complex on the northern fringe of the city. Soccer personalitiesr P.K.Banerjee and Sayed Nayemuddin besides former hockey player Gurbux Singh were among those present at the inauguaration ceremony. Built by Jagriti, a non-government organization, the sports complex will host various sports events of football, cricket, volleyball, gymnastic and swimming.  

Packed programme awaits Maradona

KOLKATA, 5th December, 2008: The most famous yet controversial football player ever to visit Kolkata — Diego Maradona — will have to be contending with two days of programme that will take him crisscrossing the City and its neighbourhood.

The Argentine National coach will be arriving in the wee hours of Saturday. He will spend almost 48 hours in the City and attend a number of programmes including a visit to the Mother Teresa House on the second day.

The legendry footballer will open the tour with a visit to the south-western part of the City to lay the foundation stone of the Indian Football School. He will follow it up with a media conference at his hotel and later will go to the Salt Lake Stadium to witness a match and to accept a felicitation.
The second day’s programme will begin with a visit to Mother House and from there he will visit the former Chief Minister of West Bengal, Jyoti Basu, at the latter’s Salt Lake residence and wind up his outdoor activity by visiting the century-old National Club of India, Mohun Bagan.

His final function in the city will be to attend a charity dinner where a number of his memorabilia will be auctioned and the proceeds donated to the needy football players.

Salt Lake Stadium to host only semis and final

New Delhi, Nov 29, 2008: The All India Football Federation (AIFF) today made minor changes in the fixtures of December 4-21 Federation Cup in Kolkata due to non-availability of the Salt Lake Stadium there for most part of the football tournament.

Earlier, the group matches of the tournament were to be held in both the Barasat and Salt Lake stadia in Kolkata while the two semifinals and final were to be played at Salt Lake.But now, Salt Lake Stadium will host only three matches -- two semifinals and final -- while Barasat Stadium will host all the group matches, an AIFF release said.

This was necessitated after the Indian Football Association (state association of West Bengal) informed the AIFF that the Salt Lake Stadium will not be available before the semifinals.Moreover, the two Group A matches -- between Dempo and Chirag United, and Mumbai FC and State Bank of Travancore -- which was earlier scheduled to be played on December 6 will now be held the next day.

State Bank of Travancore, New Delhi Heroes, Oil India (Assam) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited had made it to the 16-team main round from the qualifiers.The 16 teams have been divided into four groups of four teams each to play a round-robin league and the winners of each group will make it to the semifinals to be held on December 18. The final will be played on December 21. (Agencies)

Bayern Munich to set up football academy in Kolkata

Kolkata,November 12, 2008:German giants Bayern Munich will set up their first football academy outside Germany, and West Bengal will have the honour of being their partner. Bayern president and former German soccer star, Karl Heinz Rummenigge was in Kolkata on Wednesday to announce the plan of a football academy that would be set up in Burdwan with technical support from the giants of club football in Europe.

The Burdwan District Sports Association would enter into an agreement with Bayern and Techno India (a knowledge management group) for the proposed academy.Rummenigge said that Bayern chose India and West Bengal as a partner for such a venture as they were looking into long-term relationships and were not in Kolkata only to make money.

"Our philosophy is different from other clubs of Europe who go into Asia for making money. Our slogan is to create friends and have long-lasting commitments. The way we saw Oliver Kahn being felicitated here when he played in farewell match in Kolkata also showed us how people of West Bengal loved football," he said.

While Rummenigge will fly back on Wednesday night, his colleague from Bayern, Martin Hegele, will travel to Burdwan on Thursday to see the proposed site. Hegele told India Today: "We are here as we wanted to work with serious people and your minister Nirupam Sen is one such man." Burdwan is Sen's home town and he, along with sports minister, Subhas Chakraborty, pledged support for the academy.

Hegele explained that apart from providing technical support to build up the academy, which will include the construction of artificial and natural football pitches, training of coaches and players, there will be exchange programmes and age-group tournaments to enhance the talents available in West Bengal and also across India.

The academy will have a stadium and five football fields, two of which will have artificial turf. Four fields will be floodlit, so that the students can practise at any hour.Rummenigge expressed hope that one day a player from the Burdwan academy will play in the professional football circuit in Europe and added that he did not think it was impossible for a passionate country like India to finally play in the FIFA World Cup.