AFC Gives AIFF Full Membership in its Elite Youth Scheme; J-League Restarts After a 4-Month Halt and More (Football Round-up)

The Asian Football Confederation gave the All India Football Federation (AIFF) a AFC Elite Youth Scheme full membership status. AFC general secretary Dato Windsor John informed the AIFF that its application for full membership was given approval from the Youth Panel.

“We are delighted to confer to the All India Football Federation the AFC Elite Youth Scheme full membership status and the Reliance Foundation Young Champs Academy and JSW Bengaluru FC Academy the two-star Academy status, which is subject to re-evaluation after three years,” the AFC said in a letter.

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AIFF general secretary Kushal Das thanked AFC for “recognising our effort”. “The AFC Elite Youth Scheme has set a benchmark for all Member Associations to evaluate their youth football structure. AIFF is working towards fulfilling all the criteria to bolster the youth league structure and further strengthen the quality of footballers in India.”

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) also conferred Bengaluru FC’s Youth Development Program with a two-star Academy status. Bengaluru is the one of the two professional football clubs that has gotten this kind of recognition, and the other club with this recognition is the Reliance Foundation Young Champs Academy.

“We are delighted to confer to the AIFF the AFC Elite Youth Scheme full membership status and the Reliance Foundation Young Champs Academy and JSW Bengaluru FC Academy the two-star Academy status,” stated John.

J-League Restarts

Japan’s football league restarted on July 4 after it was put on halt due to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. All 18 top-flight teams were in action, and the nine games were played without spectators. 

The first division of the J-League was suspended in February before any other league only after one round of matches were played.

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The league was expected to let fans come to the stadium to attend the matches later this month. But effort towards that has slowed with Tokyo reporting a steady increase in coronavirus cases.

Earlier last month, Japanese pro baseball league was also resumed.

Pritam Kotal’s Story

Indian football team right-back Pritam Kotal feels he has put in a lot of effort to make up for his lack of talent. His ability to work hard helped him become a vital cog in Igor Stimac’s squad, he adds.

After working his way up, Kotal is now a regular feature on the Indian side.”Honestly, I was not a naturally talented player and I’m not ashamed of admitting this. I knew I had to overcome my shortcomings through hardcore training and sheer practice regimes,” Kotal told the All India Football Federation’s website.

“Even during the off-days, I used to train inside the room to go a notch up. It was something which came naturally to me.” It was in his U-19 days that Kotal developed a habit of scribbling his practice sessions in his notebook.

“I started it as I wanted to minimise my mistakes – not just the practise sessions, but also the matches I played,” Kotal said.”In fact, I still have the habit of jotting it down. And why not?

“It is a simple exercise but an effective one. Everyone makes mistakes on the field and to minimise our mistakes, we need to train hard. After every training session, I take notes. Before heading to the field on the next day I check on the points so that I don’t repeat it again. There’s no rocket science behind this, but this helps me always. I follow it even today,” he added.

Kotal has so far represented India in 36 International matches and 10 age-group Internationals. 

Armenian Clubs Disqualified

The Armenian Football Federation (FFA) suspended the country’s second tier with immediate effect and disqualified five teams after receiving “undeniable evidence” of the teams being involved in match-fixing.

As many as 45 people, including club owners, players and coaches, were handed life bans and another 13 have been banned for different periods after their involvement in manipulation of matches came to light, the FFA said.

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Local media reported that club owners with Russian passports, Russian players and coaches, as well as Ukrainian, Latvian and Belarusian footballers are the ones who have been served with the ban.

Lokomotiv Yerevan, level on points with second division leaders FC Van, Aragats, Torpedo Yerevan and Masis were disqualified from the championship after a suspicious result of the matches came out, including 12-0, 0-12, 1-8, 9-2, 0-7, 0-8 and 8-2 scorelines.

Mourinho Feels Destroyed Inside

Jose Mourinho was "destroyed a little bit on the inside" by Tottenham Hotspur's lack of fight in the 3-1 defeat at the hands of Sheffield United. Mourinho's side could not bounce back from the VAR decision denying them a first half equaliser.

Tottenham were outfought by the Blades and with that, their Champions League dreams were shattered. Mourinho's side was then disappointed when the Tottenham's stars lacked the desire to fight back from the VAR blow.

"There was a lot in the game, there was a possibility of shortening distances to Champions League positions, there was the possibility of being more stable for the Europa League positions fight," Mourinho told reporters on Saturday.

"I believed in the evolution of the team and I thought that from a desire point of view, they put more in than us. That's something that disturbs me.

"It's something that I feel, I don't know, that's my way of being - it's something that destroys me a little bit on the inside because I think the last thing in football is when you have the feeling you could, you should do more.

Tottenham have a chance to resurrect their Europa League when they play against Everton on Monday, although England midfielder Dele Alli is likely to skip the match after a hamstring injury on Saturday.

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