With success across leagues, India has new football giants
KOLKATA: When VC Praveen pitched the idea of a football team to his father-in-law AM Gopalan, the conversation went something like this: allow me to spend Rs 5 crore every season but expect zero returns for the first three. Having played football in his youth, Gopalan agreed, said Praveen, president Gokulam Kerala FC (GKFC).
GKFC finished outside the top five in the I-League in their first three seasons but were an unstoppable force between then and Tuesday. That is when needing a draw to retain the I-League, 10-man GKFC lost 1-3 to Sreenidi Deccan. It ended a 21-match unbeaten run, a competition record that lasted over 14 months. It was a run that fetched them the 2020-21 I-League and brought them to one point from two games of another. And they can still be the first team to retain the I-League.
Standing between them and history are Mohammedan Sporting, who can win their maiden I-League if they beat GKFC on Saturday. Both teams will be on 40 points but the title will come to Kolkata because of a better head-to-head; the teams drew 1-1 in the first phase. “Every step has been a dream come true,” said Praveen. “We were a household name in Kerala before the football team. Now, I get good luck messages from Malayalis all over the world.”
And now, GKFC want to play the Indian Super League by winning the 2022-23 I-League. “That is what the road map for Indian football says. We want to play in India’s top league and neither AIFF nor AFC are giving any clarity about next season. I really don’t understand this dilly-dallying. If ISL is the target we will build the team one way. This should have been cleared before the 2021-22 season,” said Praveen. The roadmap for Indian leagues was decided by the Asian Football Confederation along with all Indian stakeholders in