Indian Soccer comes of Age! FPAI organized a memorable evening at The ITC Sonar on September 26, 2011 to felicitate the doyens of Indian soccer for their performances in 2010-11. Bhaichung Bhutia, the brain behind the association, was not present but the program was managed with utmost professionalism with celebrities from all walks of life attending and gracing the occasion with their presence. The program was inaugurated by Mr. M.K. Narayanan, Hon'ble Governor of West Bengal.

Beto was adjudged the best foreign player; Karim the best coach; Sunil Chettri, the "Arjuna" awardee was given a special award for the achievement; Subroto Paul the best player for India in the Asia Cup; Jeje the most promising player; Mehtab received two awards; he was adjudged the best player by the fans as well as the FPA.

Beto is all hopeful about the future of India's soccer and said that he & Barreto will open an academy at Kolkata soon. Salgaocar, the defending champions of I-League and finalist of on going Federation Cup and their Coach Karim thanked all the Indian clubs, Churchill Bros., Mohun Bagan & Salgaocar for giving him an opportunity to sharpen his coaching skills in India and thanked the Salgaonkar players for being instrumental in his being adjudged the coach of the year.

Indian Captain and Mohun Bagan Star Sunil Chettri said that he "has miles to go before he can sleep". Indian Sr. Team and Pune FC Keeper Subroto Paul was very optimistic; he is confident that India will qualify at the 2015 Asia Cup. East Bengal's best Midfielder Mehtab Hossain thanked the Almighty for his success and thanked his wife and fans for supporting him all through his career.

The awards were given away by Rituparna Sengupta (Tollywood Actress), Subhas Bhowmick ( Ex- India International and coach), Sultan Ahmed ( General Secretary of Mohammedan Sc and Union cabinet Minister), Arup Biswas ( Local MLA), Swastika Mukherjee (Tollywood Actress), Sumit Mukherjee, Shyam Thapa ( Both Ex - Indian Footballer), Agnimitra Paul ( Fashion Designer), Ranadeb Bose ( Bengal Crickter) and Padmashree P.K. Banerjee, Churchill Alemao (Secretary Churchill Brothers), Subrata Dutta ( AIFF Vice President).

Rituparna said that she is great fan of Barreto and according to her Barreto is the best foreigner to have played on Indian soil.

Prasenjit Baidya, Abhijit Baidya & A. Ghoshal; the three members of the Indian Soccer team at the recently concluded Slum Soccer Championship were felicitated & honored at the occasion. India won the tournament this year. Coimbatore will host the National Slum Soccer Championship from Jan. 8 – Jan. 14, 2012. India will host the Beach Soccer Championship in 2012.

Bhaichung Bhutia was given a special award which was accepted by Barreto on Bhaichung's behalf. Barreto said that he was badly missing Bhaichung Bhutia at the occasion and did not hesitate in declaring himself a great fan of Bhaichung Bhutia. He was candid in stating that he thoroughly enjoyed playing with Bhaichung Bhutia for MB. He was hopeful that India would get another Bhaichung Bhutia in the future.

Churchill supremo Alemao bought Bhaichung Bhutia's Indian jersey for Rs. 50,000/- that went to Sikkim,s earthquake relief fund. Leander autographed a football and put it on auction to raise further money for the said relief fund.

Indian Tennis King Leander Paes confessed that his first love is soccer and that he is great fan of three " B". they are Bhaichung Bhutia, Barreto, Karim Bencharifa and on his way to becoming a fan of Beto as well.

The program saw some of the stars of Indian soccer namely Ishfaque, Mehraj & Luciano walking the ramp with the models.

BEST FOOTBALLERS XI
Subrata Paul, Mahesh Gawli, Uga Okpara, Naoba Singh, Rahim Nabi, Steven Dias, Seuoka, Mehtab hossain, Lenney Rodrigues, Odafa Okolie and Beto.

Hon'ble Governor of West Bengal Mr.M.K.Narayanan announced the Team at Hoel Sonar Bangla today in FPAI Ceremoney....Now wating for other announces below.........Stay with us...

Best Foreign Player Nominees ( Film actress Rituparna Sengupta says she likes Jose Barreto. Now she and Ashish Jinder will select the Winner from nominee

Nominee 1 - Ryuji Sueoka
Nominee 2- Roberto Mendes Silva (Beto)
Nominee 3- Odafa Okalie

WINNER : - Roberto Mendes Silva (Beto)... Now Footballers are walking in the ramp with Fashion models...

Best Coach Nominees :: Union Minister Sultan Ahmed Will give the award. Now Video clippings of the Coaches performances are showing in the stage.

Nominee 1- Almando Colaco
Nominee 2- Karim Bencharifa
Nominee 3- Trevor Morgan

WINNER : - Karim Bencharifa Now Tollywood actress Swastika Mukherjee saying something about Football in the Stage. Mohun Bagan and India captain Sunil Chettri got award for getting Arjuna Award.

Best Player of ASIA Cup :: Ex-India International footballer Bidesh Bose, MLA Arup Biswas and Fashion Designer Agnimitra Pal awarded the Prize.

WINNER : - Subrata Pal ( Goal Keeper) Best Young Players Nominees

Nominee 1- Jeje Lalpekhlua
Nominee 2- Raju Gaikwad
Nominee 3- Lenny Rodrigues

WINNER : - Jeje Lalpekhlua. He was given the award by Film Actress Swastika Mukherjee and Chairman of Pailan Group Mr. Apurba Saha.

Best Indian Player Nominees

Nominee 1- Mahesh Gawli
Nominee 2- Mehtab Hussain
Nominee 3- Climax Lawrence

WINNER : - Mehtab Hussain

Fans Player of the Year Nominees

Nominee 1- Luciano Sabrosa
Nominee 2- Tolgay Ozbey
Nominee 3- Ranty Martins
Nominee 4- Mehtab Hussain
Nominee 5- Yusuf Yakubu

WINNER : - Mehtab Hussain

... The qualifying round of historical 124th edition of Durand Cup already started in New Delhi. Ten teams are fighting in Group A and Group B each to qualify for the final round to be played from 4th October.

In the Main round this year, Three teams have been divided into four groups The matches from the quarter-final league will be telecast on DD Sports Channel, which will be played under floodlights.

Group 1 :Prayag United, Salgaocar, qualifier A,
group 2 :Mumbai FC, Sikkim United, qualifier B.
Group 3 :Pune FC, Air India, ONGC
group 4 :Hal, Churchill Brothers Army Red.

Defending champions Prayag United (Former Chirag United) will face in the opening match against qualifier of A Groip while Mumbai FC will take on Qualifier B' Group on 4th October. The final match of Durand cup will play on October 15, with the two semi-finals on October 12.

The overall budget of the tournament is Rs 1.54 crore. Winners will gate Rs. 20 Lakh, Runners up will get 10 Lakhs and 3rd Place team will get Rs. 5 Lakh.

26.09 (Day 3): Army Green   0-0, 1-3(Pen)   Bhowanipur SC
BWP : Duglus Di silva, Satyajit Bose, Rahul Mistry

26.09 (Day 3): BSF   1-1, 4-3 (Pen)   J & K Bank
BSF Mandip Singh (Talwinder Singh, Gureak Singh, Banti Singh, Sarbjit Singh)
J&k : Zubair Ahmed ( Ibhraim KK, Shheab Rizwan, Bilal Ahmed.
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25.09 (Day 2): SHAHADRA FC   0-0, 3-4(Pen)   INDIAN AIR FORCE

25.09 (Day 2): ARC Shillong   2-1   State Bank of TRIVANCORE

After the patient approach of Salgaocar helped them to book a place in the finale, it was time to decide their opponents as East Bengal squared off against their trademark bogeys Prayag United. (Former Chirag United)

The early momentum of the red and gold brigade saw the giants exibhit some fluid flavour of football with a fair amount of pace injected in the team helping them to reach the semi finals after ousting several hurdles in their path while Prayag United once again proved the mettle of their character in knockout tournaments as they qualified from the group stage.

The match began with Prayag looking the most dangerous raiding the red and yellow defence at instances as East Bengal were looking to settle down. The early bit of attack from United was rewarded with an opening goal for them as Snehasish Dutta scored a screamer to help his side take the lead.

A brilliant left footed effort was executed nicely by Snehasish as the bravehearts registered an early lead.

The goal acted like a slap to the spirits of East Bengal as they started to get in the groove of the match controlling the possession to a higher extent. The moment of madness came in 36mins as Bello Rasaq commited a rash tackle on Alan Gow with the referee awarding a spotkick to East Bengal. Gow despatched the penalty with perfect accuracy as the scoreline was level with the first half coming to an end.

The second half began with Prayag missing a golden chance in 52mins as Josimar failed to capitalise on a nice cross executed by Snehasish but Sandip reacted well getting hold off the ball to prevent any damage being to the scoreline.

The closing minutes proved to be more treacherous for Prayag after Josimar was sent off for an early shower after getting the second yellow in 77mins for a rough tackle on Soumik.

The ten men disadvantage of Prayag was well exploited by the mighty East Bengal as they took the lead in 82mins courtesy of a well taken goal by Paite. Baljit was the creator and Paite, the executor as East Bengal took a vital lead in a decisive moment.

The final few minutes saw 5 minutes being added as a golden chance was missed in the final minute of the stoppage time. A shot from Paite hit the woodwork as the rebound received the same fate from Baljit with the scoreline remaining the same.

The match ended with East Bengal reaching the final of the 33rd Federation Cup as a mega match is set to unfold on 29th September with the reigning I League champions locking horns with the runners up of last season as football will do the talking.

LIVE COMMENTARY OF THE MATCH

26.09 : P. United SC   1 - 2   KF. East Bengal ( KOL - FT..)

PUS: Snehasish Dutta 16' :: KEB : Gow ( Pen - 36'), Paite 81'

KEB : Sandip, Naoba, Okpara, Soumik(Robart), Nirmal, Vasum(Paite), Sanju, Khabra, Gow, Tolgey (Penn), Baljit.

PUS : Abhijit, Bello, Deepak(R/C), Arnab, Sukhen, Lalkamal, Denson(Vincent), Tulunga, Snehasish(Gouranga), Joshimar( R/C), Yakubu.

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FT : Match end. East Bengal reach in the Fed Cup final for 15th times. They will meet defending I-League winner Salgaocar on 29th Sept.

95': Amazing miss of East Bengal..2 times within 2 seconds. Paite's shot hits the post and bounced back to Baljit in open area but his shot also hits the post and out.

93': East Bengal fans are waiting for their team's 15th times Final of Fed Cup.

91': Vincent well effort but Sandip was alert.

90': Referee added 6 minutes more to end of the match where East Bengal is leading 2-1.

88': Yakubu's well effort. His shot from out side box went over the cross bar. But it was weak.

87': Few minutes left to end of the match.

85': PLAYER CHANGING for United. Vincent came in place of Denson.

85': PLAYER CHANGING for East Bengal. Robart (www.kolkatafootball.com) came in place of Soumik.

83': East Bengal is leading 2-1 now. corner for East Bengal (www.kolkatafootball.com) but Denson cleared Sanju's kick.

82': GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL Paite scored for East Bengal. Baljeet to Paite and his bullet left footer beat Abhijit.

81': PLAYER CHANGING of East Bengal : Paite came in and Vasum out.

81': United now reduced to 9 men.

81': Yellow card to Deepak who fouled Soumik. RED CARD to Deepak for his 2nd yellow card. Chance came to East Bengal as the match will play now 11 vs 9.

80': Yellow card to Vasum of EB who fouled Yakubu.

79': PLAYER CHANGING of United SC : Gouranga Biswas came in and scorer Snehasish out.

77': Referee Madho Singh shown RED CARD To Joshimar who fouled Soumik in EB Box. This is his 2nd time yellow card. Now United reduced to 10 men.

75': Still the scoreline is 1 - 1. High tension match is running for victory.

73': Yakubu took the Free kick. went out.

72': Foul against Nirmal who fouled Joshimar(www.kolkatafootball.com) out side EB box. Danger area. Free kick of United.

70': Yellow card to Joshimar for play acting .

68': Nice attack of United. Lal to Joshimar who entered in box he was fouled by Khabra,

67': Tulunga's cross from right cleared by Khabra. Deepak fouled Baljit.

65': PLAYER CHANGING of EAST BENGAL : Penn came in and Tolgey out.

64': Lal's cornercleared again by a corner but this time his corner went wide.

63': Deepak is overlaping in right and wanted to cross the ball but Soumik cleared in advance but ball went to corner in right. Lalkamal went to Kick the corner.

61': Tolgey shot outside the United bos went wide.

60': Still the scoreline is 1-1.

56': Again Baljeet missed a chance from Tolgey pass in United box. His shot went wide from 10 yards.

54': It is raining in the field.

52': Joshimar missed a sure goal from a cross of Snehasish from right side but Sandip was very much alert to collect the ball timely.

48': East Bengal is atttacking more and more..

46': Match started and East Bengal attacking from right through Sanju but Deepak cleared the ball.

46': Going to start of 2nd half. Who will reach in the Final?

HT : Match of 1st half ended. The scoreline is 1-1.

45+2': Yellow card to Deepak Mondol of United SC. He fouled onrushing Tolgey from behind.

45': Referee added 2 minutes more as extra time.

40': Denson injured when a ball hits his belly. He is under treatment.

37': Now the scoreline is 1-1 in the match.

36': GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL..Allan Gow scored from spot kick wiht his nice left footer.

36': East Bengal got Penalty. Bello fouled Allan Gow when he was trying to cut in the penalty box of United from right side. Referee awarded Penalty against Bellow's foul.

32': Nice attack of East Bengal from left through Tolgey but Arnab Mondol in United defence clocked his effort.

29': soumik Dey's cross from right but Bello cleared before raching of Baljit.

28': Sanju wanted to pass towards Baljit but it was too long for him, ball went to Abhihit's hand.

27': Match now in slow pace. East Bengal is attacking now from right side mainly.

24': Still United is leading 1-0.

22': Bello Rasaq well defended the attack of Tolgey in right.

20': United is leading 1-0. United is using their two wing, Tulunga and Snehasish but East Bengal is trying to play through their midfield.

19': Yellow card to Snehasish Dutta of United.

18': Unexpected missed of Baljit. Tolgey well crossed from, right but Baljit was unable to touch the ball to push in open net.

17': United SC is leading 1--0 now against East Bengal.

16': GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL.. Snehasish Dutta scored for United. His brilling left footer from Joshimar's pass beat Sandip in his left who was ahead from his goal mark.

13': counter attack of United. Sandip well saved Tulunga's half volley.

12': Tolgey missed a chance. Gow to Tolgey out side box but he miss the target as his shot went over the cross bar.

9': Missed pass of Allan Gow. Wanted to pass Baljit but wrong.

8': Throwing for United. Depak's throw-in cleared from left side.

6': Baljit wanted to cross from right but ball went to Abhijit's hand.

4': Well attack of United again. Yakubu to Joshimar but Okpara well advance and cleared the attack.

3': United is attacking again but Soumik of KEB cleared.

2': Match started. United is attacking from starting.. Got Corner. No impact in corner.. cleared.

1': Last minute change in East bengal team list. Nirmal Chettri and Baljit included in place of Mehtab and Raju last moment.

rs will gate Rs. 20 Lakh, Runners up will get 10 Lakhs and 3rd Place team will get Rs. 5 Lakh.