FC Kerala enters national second division league

Thrissur: FC Kerala has become the only football club in the state to qualify for the national second division league this season.  The club formed in 2014 is eying I-League, which is  biggest in the country, by winning the second division in the coming season, former Kerala goalkeeper and club director board member G. Purushothaman said. All India Football Federation has put up several criteria for a club to enter second division which includes the formation of soccer schools and junior teams. The home ground of the FC Kerala will be the Thrissur Corporation Stadium with the synthetic turf.

In the second division league, FC Kerala will play home and away matches with five other teams which are Ozone Bangalore, Fateh Hyderabad, Madhya Bharat FC along with reserve teams of Kerala Blasters and FC Goa in their group. The first game of club will be a home match against Fateh Hyderabad at Corporation stadium on March 17. Kerala FC has three foreign players - Nigeria, Cameroon and Kenya. There are also two West Bengal players, and the remaining are from Kerala.

As per the second division rules, a team can field two foreign players and one player from an Asian country. As many as 40 young players trained by the FC Kerala starting from under-10 to 18 have got selected to state and district teams recent season, director of the club and football coach  V. A. Narayanan Menon said. At present, the club is giving training to students by collecting an admission fee of Rs 2,500 and Rs 1,200 a month. Girl students get free training - all at Thrissur Corporation Stadium, Besides that, the public-funded club is planning to set up a football academy buying land in Thrissur. In the past season, it had won the Thrissur District Super League and all India tournaments in Maharashtra and UP.