ISL - Kolkata to Madrid for football training!

Atletico de Kolkata Press Release

Atletico de Kolkata have drawn up an all-inclusive list of footballers for the inaugural edition of Indian Super League post the international draft of players by strengthening every department of play. It has taken on-board three mid-fielders viz. Borja Fernandez, Jofre Mateu Gonzalez, Jakuv Podany ; two defenders Sylvain Monsoreau, Jose Miguel Gonzalez Rey, goal keeper Apoula Edima Edel Bete and striker Arnal Llibert Conde Cardo. The focus for Atletico de Kolkata has been also on European and in particularly Spanish players to make the team more cohesive in the short month long window before the ISL season kicks off.  The team has been selected in a manner which will be heavily influenced by the Atletico de Madrid’s style of play which is strong on defense early in the game and follows by an aggressive counter attack. The international players would be joining the promising Indian contingent for training in Los Angeles de San Rafael, Madrid. In the month long training focus will be on fitness training on the lines of the La Liga routine alongwith team building.

Mr. Utsav Parekh, Co-owner, Atlético de Kolkata, commented, “Atlético de Kolkata made some prudent choices today at the draft .We are on course towards constructing the team to look out for at the ISL. We are for building a favourable and experienced bench strength which will be an asset in the two month long tournament. The overall experience of the players we have selected through the draft today is a rich blend of experience along with diversity in their styles of playing the game. The team is ready to depart soon for Spain and post the one month training we want to bring back a cohesive and connected team. ” 

For the league’s inaugural edition Atlético de Kolkata bagged fourteen promising names from Indian football namely - Arnab Mondal, Mohammed Rafi, Mohammed Rafique, Rakesh Masih, Cavin Lobo, Biswajit Saha, Denzil Franco, Sanju Pradhan, Kingshuk Debnath, Lester Fernandez, Subhasish R Chowdhury, Baljit Sahni, Climax Lawrence and Nallappan Mohanraj.

Atlético de Kolkata is the first franchise that will compete against the seven teams in Indian Super League that was launched from amongst the eight city franchisees of the Indian Super League. The franchise has Atlético de Madrid, Prince of Kolkata, Ex-captain, Indian cricket team, Mr. Sourav Ganguly; notable industrialists and luminaries Mr. Sanjiv Goenka, Chairman, RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group; Mr. Harshavardhan Neotia, Chairman of Ambuja Neotia Group and Mr. Utsav Parekh, Chairman, SMIFS Capital Markets Ltd as its co-owners.

The franchise’s dedication and commitment towards a sustainable growth of football is on top of its agenda. Atlético de Kolkata will leverage on the over 100-year experience of Atlético de Madrid’s sporting model of academies which enables them recognize and empower talent from the very grassroots.

AIFF Press Release

Hero Indian Super League’s most anticipated International Player Draft was held today at the Taj Palace, Mumbai with the participating eight clubs going for specific strategies in forming the spine of their respective team line-ups.

With a plethora of International stars and talented youngsters who have excelled in their trade at the highest-level, both for their country and many an elite Premier League of the World, up for grabs, it was perhaps befitting that their entry into Indian Football was crafted at an event held closure to the monumental Gateway of India with the Arabian Sea in the background.

The day marked the completion of players draft, both Indian as well as international, for the inaugural season of Indian Super League which kicks-off on October 12, 2014. Total 56 international players, 49 from today’s draft and seven being contracted by the clubs directly, were drafted among the eight ISL clubs. Earlier, in July 2014 the clubs had selected 112 Indian Players to complete the domestic players’ mandate.

“The 49 players who went into the draft today have had close to 9000 games in between them,” Andy Knee, Vice President, IMG, Football informed. “It only speaks about the experience and the competition they will bring into the Hero Indian Super League,” he maintained.

Kushal Das, General Secretary, All India Football Federation, felt “Indian Football needs a new dose of adrenalin.”

“We are extremely excited and hope the Indian Super League will provide the dose of much-needed visibility to Indian Football. The focus at present is on Youth Development and Grassroots which forms the base of the pyramid. But at the same time, the dose of commerce stays quintessential at the top of the pyramid. Both are interlinked to each other,” he stated. “We hope ISL will be the game changer for Indian Football.”

Anupam Dutta, CEO, Football Sports Development Pvt Ltd, a joint venture between IMG-Reliance and Star India said: “The international player draft today marks an important milestone in the Indian football. A League’s success depends on the Clubs and we are happy to have equally excited and committed partners in this journey. And against the backdrop of the International Player Draft, let’s not forget that we have a very good set of Indian Players in the League as well.”

Nitin Kukreja, President, Star India commented that “a milestone has been achieved.

“We will unleash a sporting revolution in India,” he concluded.

The draft picks from Hero Indian Super League’s International Player Draft stay as follows (Names appear as per the clubs’ picks during the round 1 to 7) :-

FC Pune City: Bruno Cirillo, Emanuele Balardi, Ivan Boaldo Palacios, Saidou Mady Panandetigui, Omar Andres Rodriguez Martinez, Andres Felipe Gonzalez Ramirez, Park Kwang II.

Atletico de Kolkata: Borja Fernandez, Jofre Mateu Gonzalez, Jose Miguel Gonzelez Rey, Arnal Llibert Conde Carbo, Sylvain Monsoreau, Jakub Podany, Apoula Edima Edel Bete. 

Kerala Blasters FC: Michael Chopra, Ian Hume, Victor Herrero Forcada, Erwin Spitzner, Pedro Adriano Veloso Gusmao, Cedric Hengbart, Raphael Romey. 

Team Mumbai: Diego Fernando Nadaya, Jan Stohanzl, Francisco Javier Fernandez Luque, Pavel Cmovs, Johann Letzelter, Andre Matos Dias Pereira, Ilias Pollalis. 

North East United FC: Issac Chansa, Cornell Glenn, Massamba Lo Sambou, Do Dong-Hyun, Guileherme Felipe de Castro, Tomas Josl, Luis Alfredo Yanes Padilla. 

Team Chennai: Bernard Mendy, Cristian Hidalgo Gonzalez, Gennaro Bracigliano, Bojan Djordjic, Bruno Augusto Pelissari de Lima, Jairo Andres Suarez Carvajal, Eduardo Silva Lerma. 

Team Goa: Miroslav Slepicka, Jan Seda, Bruno Filipe Tavares Pinheiro, Youness Bengelloun, Miguel Bruno Pereira Herlein, Gregory Arnolin, Edgar Carvalho Figueira Marcelino. 

Delhi Dynamos FC: Mads Junker, Morten Skoubo, Bruno Herrero Arias, Gustavo Marmentini dos Santos, Marek Cech, Pavel Elias, Henrique Dinis Oliviera Dias.