Bengaluru FC owner urges ‘financial sacrifice’ from players to support ISL resumption!
Bengaluru FC owner has sought ‘sacrifice’ from Bengaluru FC footballers, including the iconic Sunil Chhetri! The club owner has mentioned that the resumption of the league will not be viable without “sacrifice” from the players. The Indian Super League is set to return to action next month, on 14th February, and it will be organised by the All India Football Federation. Parth Jindal, the club owner, has made a kind of dictum that players will need to “make sacrifices” in order to bear the “financial burden” that clubs will have to shoulder in order to get the Indian top-flight competition up and running next month. Jindal, however, did not specify what kind of sacrifice he was expecting from players for the upcoming season. It was implied that players – including iconic forward Sunil Chhetri and star goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu – would have to take a pay cut, the club would have to “shut shop for good. “Tremendous sacrifice from all clubs is being asked for to play the ISL in its current format. Repercussions if we don’t have a league are very worrying,” Jindal wrote on ‘X’. “Truly hope the players understand the additional financial burden on the clubs and agree to also sacrifice as we are all in this together. We are in this for the love of football and to see our country play the beautiful game and be good at it.” Meanwhile, it is learnt that East Bengal, Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting will be playing their home matches of the ISL this season in Kolkata. All the three Kolkata giants will be able to gather more revenue from gate-sale if their respective home-matches take place at Yuba Bharati Kriranghan. Significantly, the AIFF has also sent a letter to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), seeking slot for participation in the AFC Champions League qualifiers. The AIFF has reportedly mentioned that each team will get scope of taking part in 13 matches in the ISL and each of them has participated in three matches in the Super Cup this season already. So, AIFF wants AFC slots for the teams who all will be playing 16 matches this season.
‘Sisters’, ‘Almeida sir’ and ‘Chitra mam’: Anthony recalls the pillars of his coaching journey after completing the 50th match
Sudeep Pakrashi: His coaching journey never started with the women’s footballers. Even in his earlier days, his desire was not to settle into women’s football coaching. Rather Anthony Andrews’s journey began, guiding the toddlers and youth footballers in Maharashtra, first at PIFA and then Minerva FC academy. The first assignment of guiding women’s footballers came from Gokulam FC. He was asked to join as an assistant to the first-team coach, Priya PV. Today, Anthony Andrews, after completing his 50th match as a coach (on the day East Bengal won against SESA in the ongoing IWL), reveals he did not accept the Gokulam FC offer immediately. He took almost six months for research on women’s football. He spent hours in understanding the physiological and psychological aspects of women. He has seven sisters in his family. Interaction with them since childhood already helped him to understand women’s psychological aspects, the idea about their physical abilities. He spent hours talking to Chitra Gangadharan in Bengaluru to have a thorough idea about the women footballers’ psychology and how to deal with them. He is also indebted to Jeddy Almedia, one of the pioneers in the country’s women’s football development. He got a lot of advices from Almeida sir. Then only he accepted the Gokulam FC offer. Anthony feels his most memorable happenings in the coaching journey so far are Gokulam FC (two IWL titles) and his success with East Bengal (one IWL, the AFC Club Championship qualification and SAFF Club Cup title). But he still remembers his first win as the coach of Gokulam FC. and still dedicates it to his Praveen sir, the top-boss of Gokulam FC. Anthony believes that Praveen was the man who believed in his hard work and effort. Itr was Praveen’s contrbution which guided Anthony to continue coaching women footballers. While explaining the change in the country’s women’s football, the 30-year-old coach feels In the earlier days the women’s footballers the style of women’s football play was not progressive as they tried to depend on kick-and-run. Today, women footballers have also learnt how to take possession, how to dish out a passing game. They have also improved in technique and basic skills gradually. Still, the coach feels that women footballers should be more encouraged financially, especially at a time when in the Fifa-ranking country’s women’s football is at 67th! The 30-year-old coach wants more clubs across the country should come forward to build up women’s team. He also wants the women’s footballers as well as the coaching staff should earn more than their present condition. Anthony feels It is the first time the country’s women’s football have qualified for the women’s Asian Cup in senior, under-20 and under-17. So women’s football should be promoted more.
ICC rejects Bangladesh’s T20 World Cup plea, tells ‘travel to India or forfeit points!
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has reportedly cracked the whip on the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and has rejected their request to relocate their T20 World Cup games from India to Sri Lanka. This comes days after the BCB wrote an email to the global body seeking the relocation of their matches, citing security concerns for their players in India. While reports on Tuesday claimed that the ICC would try to convince Bangladesh to play all their matches in India, it has now come to light that the BCB has perhaps been served an ultimatum. According to an ESPNCricinfo report, the BCB was told by the ICC that its request had been rejected during a virtual call on Tuesday. The global body reportedly said that Bangladesh would have to travel to India to play their T20 World Cup matches or would have to risk forfeiting their points if they refuse to do so. The report claims that the BCB has denied any such communication from the ICC. Neither the BCCI nor the BCB has issued any official communication about the call with ICC officials on Tuesday. Bangladesh is scheduled to play three T20 WC 2026 matches in Kolkata and one game in Mumbai. The BCB’s plea to relocate their games to Sri Lanka will be a logistical nightmare for the organizers and the broadcaster, as hinted by a BCCI source earlier.
Interim boss Fletcher to start his coaching journey with Ferguson’s blessing!
Darren Fletcher says he sought the blessing of his former Manchester United boss, Sir Alex Ferguson, before taking interim charge at Old Trafford. Fletcher will be in charge of Wednesday’s Premier League trip to Burnley following the removal of coach Ruben Amorim and is likely to remain in the dugout for Sunday’s FA Cup third-round tie with Brighton. He took the role after speaking to Ferguson, 84, who was at Elland Road for Amorim’s final game in charge, the 1-1 draw at Leeds. “I don’t like to make any major decisions without speaking to Sir Alex,” said the 41-year-old. I have a really good relationship with Sir Alex, so I wanted to speak to him first and ultimately get his blessing, to be perfectly honest with you. I think he deserves that respect. I wanted to run it by him, and he echoed my thoughts. When you’re an employee of the club, it’s your job to do your best for Manchester United. It is something I try to live and believe every day, so it was comforting for me for him to say that,” revealed Fletcher. One of Amorim’s damning observations during his rant at Leeds was his belief that senior officials at Old Trafford pay too much attention to the observations of pundits, chief among them former captain Gary Neville. Fletcher shared a dressing room with most of them and still counts them as friends. “The outside noise is difficult to deal with because those players have won everything. They’ve got success behind them, and they’ve got trophies. It’s hard to criticise them back because they’ve got their medals on the table,” added Fletcher. Fletcher says that a lack of spare time since stepping in means he hasn’t had the chance to speak to his squad individually. Instead, he restricted his conversations to captain Bruno Fernandes and the new senior players. Fletcher has met with Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko this week, having spoken to goalkeeper Senne Lammens last week. Bryan Mbeumo, United’s other major summer signing, has not had a chance to speak to Fletcher as he is at the Africa Cup of Nations with Cameroon.
