29. April
Here the schedule for the Maldives Golden Jubilee Cup:
May 1: Maldives vs Sri Lanka; May 2: India vs Bangladesh; May 4: Maldives vs Bangladesh; May 5: India vs Sri Lanka; May 7: Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh; May 8: Maldives vs India; May 10: Group winner vs Group Runners-up.

28. April
Indian national team arrived at Male, maldives Friday afternoon to participate in the Golden Jubilee Invitational Football Tournament to be held in Male' from 1-10 May.
The twenty five- member team led by Chef-de-Mission Mohamed Reazuddin was greeted at Male' International airport by the Vice Chairman of the Maldives Football Association Abdul Shakoor, Secretary General Ibrahim Ismail and representatives from the top clubs.
A traditional dance called "baiypolhi neshun" was performed by some young teenagers as the visitors were offered "kurumba", as a welcome drink.
The Indian team includes 20 players coached by Sukhwinder Singh who had earlier visited Male' some three years back with his club team JCT Mills. He said he would give the tiring players, who had been traveling since Thursday, a rest today, and will start practices Saturday morning.

26. April
Uncertainty looms large over the national under-16 team's participation in the Lion's City Cup international tournament, to be held in Singapore in the middle of May. India are the defending champions of the tournament.
It is learnt that despite having been invited to take part in the tournament two months ago, the Singapore Football Association has reportedly expressed unwillingness at the last moment to include the Indian team in the meet. Project director of the national under-16 squad, Ranjit Gupta is surprised at the SFA's failure to mention the reason behind decision of withdrawing the invitation.
In addition to the problem, SAI headquarters in New Delhi has suddenly informed Kolkata SAI centre about its inability to permit extension of the ongoing under-16 preparatory camp.
It is even learnt that the project director had not been shown the letter stating the closure of the camp when he wanted to see it, Gupta is also surprised at the attitude of the SAI top brass who haven't mentioned the specific reason behind their decision, He left for New Delhi on Tuesday to discuss the matter with the SAI officials.
It is also learnt that if the federation cannot arrange any alternate exposure tour for the national probables, the ongoing camp will be stopped. Naturally, Islam Akhmedov, the former senior national coach of Uzbekistan, now in charge of the national under-16 team, is upset with the developments.
The Uzbek coach, who is training a foreign team for the first time in his coaching career so far, recently said, "My sole aim is to get results for this Indian side as this is my first assignment abroad. All the boys in the camp have talent. But they desperately need exposure. And from that point of view, the cancellation of our Singapore trip is extremely frustrating both for me and the players." The national under-16 probables are likely to play two friendly matches with Tata Football Academy at the SAI ground this week.
A tour to Germany was also an option but nothing has been heard about it...

25. April
Experienced stopper-back Robert Fernandes of Salgaocar (Goa) will lead the Indian team in the four-nation Golden Jubilee Cup football tournament in Maldives from May 1 to 10. Other than India, hosts Maldives, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are the other teams in the fray. The tournament will be played on round-robin basis with the first two teams meeting in the final. The team, coached by Sukwinder Singh, will leave for Maldives from Thrissur on April 28.
The federation, as a policy matter, decided to pick up a junior team for the Maldives tournament and kept out regulars like IM Vijayan, Jo Paul Ancheri and Basudeb Mondal from the camp. Some players like Deepak Mondal, Ratan Singh and James Singh have cried out citing different reasons.
The Team: Goalkeepers: Prasanto Dora (East Bengal, Bengal), Virender Singh (Mahindras, Maharashtra); Defenders: Falguni Dutta (East Bengal, Bengal), Mahesh Gawli (FC Kochin, Kerala), Robert Fernandes (Salgaocar, Goa; captain), Anthony Perreira (Churchill Brothers, Goa), Daljit Singh (JCT Mills, Punjab), Tapan Ghosh (Bengal Mumbai FC, Maharashtra); Midfielders: M. Suresh (Kerala), Jules Alberto (Salgaocar, Goa), Roque Baretto (Churchill Brothers, Goa), Khalid Jamil (Air India, Maharashtra), Rajendra Prasad Singh (Mohun Bagan, Bengal); Forwards: Abbas Ali Rizvi (Mahindras, Maharashtra), Manjit Singh (Mahindras, Maharashtra), Mohammed Najeeb (Mahindras, Maharashtra), Sylvester Ignatius (State Bank of Travancore, Kerala), Bijen Singh (East Bengal, Bengal), Hardip Gill (JCT Mills, Punjab), Francis Silveira (Churchill Brothers, Goa).

23. April
56th Santosh Trophy - Final: Kerala 0-1 Maharashtra - Goal: 0:1 Mohammed Najeeb (18').

22. April
56th Santosh Trophy - 3rd Place Playoff: Bengal 2-0 Goa - Goals: 1:0 Dharamjit Singh [own goal] (16'), 2:0 James Singh (46').

Note-1: Nagpur will host the 57th National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy early next year. This was announced by Western India Football Association president and Rajya Sabha member Praful Patel after a meeting of the WIFA executive committee meeting. He said the AIFF had allotted the next Santosh Trophy to Maharashtra and the WIFA executive had chosen Nagpur as the venue. This would be the first time that after two decades the National Football Championship will be played at Nagpur. Patel said cluster matches of the championship will be played at Akola, Amravati, Gondia and Jalgaon in western Maharashtra.

21. April
It was a rare sight - Indian football star IM Vijayan flanked by Mammootty and Mohanlal, the two reigning superstars of Malayalam cinema. The occasion was the press conference to announce the launch of the I.M. Vijayan Sports Foundation, a football academy to be headed by the mercurial Indian striker.
Vijayan said the Foundation, which will be based at Thrissur (his hometown), had plans of finding and training young talent in football. He had also plans to invite coaches from the top soccer playing nations. "But it is early days yet," he said.
It was also announced that to raise funds for the academy, of which Kannan Devan is the principal sponsor, a football match featuring prominent players and film stars will be held at Thrissur on April 27.
Some prominent players, past and present, like Jo Paul Ancheri, Jiju Jacob, Olympian Rahman, Xavier Pius, Pappachan, Sharaf Ali, V.P. Sathyan and leading Malayalam movie actors, including Mohanlal, Mammootty, Suresh Gopi and Jayaram, will play in the exhibition match. Bollywood actor and football fan Mithun Chakraborthy is expected to make a guest appearance.

20. April
56th Santosh Trophy - Semifinal: Bengal 1-3 Maharashtra - Goals: 0:1 Manjit Singh (32'), 1:1 Raman Vijayan (36'), 1:2 Naushad Moosa (45'), 1:3 Bungo Singh (87').

Note-1: The probables' list for the Indian squad, due to participate in the Asian under-19 qualifers, in Colombo later this year, has been announced. All the players are requested to report at SAI, Bangalore on April 22. The Asian Football Confederation has agreed to Rustam Akramov coaching India for the Asian under-19 qualifiers.
The National Football League chairman, Alberto Colaco is the project director and former international Mauricio Afonso is the assistant coach.
The probables list: Eusebio D'Souza, Stanley D'Souza, Sameer Naik, Edwin Fernandes, Ajay Diwadkar, Diego Gomes, Anil Fernandes, Jose D'Souza, Vico D'Souza, Dharamjit Singh, Satish Kumar (all Goa); Mahendra Mani, Jagdish Kumar, Shiva Mani, Rajendra Ghana P, Mani Erhwaran, Rajendra Pushaparg (all Karnataka); Jose Feroze, M Waris, S Vinod, Rama Rai, Vinu Jose (all Kerala); Clifford Miranda, Alex Ambrose, VK Harish (all Bihar); Anwari Abdul Jasbir, Moinul Haque (both Bengal); Tomba Singh, Bungo Singh (both WIFA); Mohammad Omar Khan (Andhra Pradesh); Victor Manova (Tamil Nadu).

Note-2: Meanwhile the pre-World Cup group featuring India will be staged in two legs instead of all the matches being played in one country, India, Yemen, Brunei and the UAE comprise the group. India has offered to host one leg and UAE is likely to host the second leg. The hosts would have to provide for travel expenses, accomodation, daily allowance and other incidental costs involved. The AIFF will bear Rs 20 lakh to stage the four team competition.

19. April
56th Santosh Trophy - Semifinal: Kerala 2-0 Goa - Goals: 1:0,2:0 Sylvester Ignatius (40',66').

17. April
56th Santosh Trophy - Quarterfinal Group Y: Goa 1-1 Maharashtra - Goals: 1:0 Mario Soares (58'), 1:1 Bungo Singh (75').

Note-1: The last date for acceptance of applications for the inter-state transfers has been extended to April 30, according to information received at the Kerala Football Association office, from the AIFF secretary KN Mour.

16. April
56th Santosh Trophy - Quarterfinal Group X: Kerala 1-1 Bengal - Goals: 0:1 RP Singh (36'), 1:1 B. Edison (82').
56th Santosh Trophy - Quarterfinal Group X: Karnataka 1-1 Services - Goals: 1:0 Murali (28'), 1:1 Sajith Kumar (44').

15. April
Baichung Bhutia has achieved the long-awaited breakthrough at english second division club Bury FC!!! Today Baichung made his second start for Bury in the english second division and in the 40.minute he scored his first goal for Bury FC against Chesterfield. Baichung's sweet volley was the first-ever goal by an Asian-born player in the professional English game. Also today Baichung played his longest match for the Bury first team, being substituted in the 87.minute.

56th Santosh Trophy - Quarterfinal Group Y: Tamil Nadu 0-3 Goa - Goals: 0:1,0:2 Alvito D'Cunha (24',26'), 0:3 Bruno Countinho (88').

14. April

56th Santosh Trophy - Quarterfinal Group X: Kerala 2-1 Karnataka - Goals: 1:0 K. Naushad (5'), 2:0 IM Vijayan (41'), 2:1 RC Prakash (67').
56th Santosh Trophy - Quarterfinal Group Y: Punjab 0-2 Maharashtra - Goals: 0:1,0:2 Mohammed Najeeb (67',87').

13. April
56th Santosh Trophy - Quarterfinal Group X: Bengal 4-0 Services - Goals: 1:0,3:0 Raman Vijayan (51',74'), 2:0,4:0 James Singh (58',81').

Note-1: Some of you must have heard of the betting scandal involving South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje, during the cricket tour of SA to India. Now a new dimension of the problem has been named, sadly involving Indian football. The website netguruindia.com reports the following:
Even as the recent match-fixing scandal rocked the cricket fraternity, some top Calcutta-based bookies are of the opinion that the sudden activation of the administration was due to the pressure created by the politicians that call the shots in the Indian soccer.
An associate of a Calcutta-based bookie told Netgurindia.com on conditions of anonymity that everyone knew about cricket betting and match-fixing earlier, but noon really bothered about nabbing and punishing the culprits. "One fine morning Delhi Police wanted to show their ability and thought that that something must be done and so during the India-South Africa series, they started tapping the phones of the members of the visiting team. There is something more than what meets the eye. A section of politicians, who control the soccer lobby, were behind in the whole thing," the bookie said. As of now, he added, while 77 percent of the sponsorship goes into cricket, only 23 percent goes in football.
The betting circles in Calcutta police became suddenly active for two reasons - rivalry between cricket and football lobby over the sponsorship and tussle between betting lobbies over the control of business.
It all started in 1993, the bookies stated. On June 14 that year, Pradyut Dutta, the then general secretary of the Indian Football Association, announced that betting would be introduced in Calcutta football emulating the system in the English league. He even requested a veteran journalist of a state government-run daily, who covers horse betting, to work out a model after talking with the bookies of Calcutta Race Course. He, however, did not get much response from the bookies who felt that different sets of bookies were required for football betting. Furthermore, they said most of the local football matches in Calcutta are fixed.
However, although the issue was shelved after Dutta's death, influential persons of Calcutta football did not remain silent. They took it up with one of the strongest lobbies in the racing circles to ensure a legislation so that betting is legal in India.

12. April
56th Santosh Trophy - Quarterfinal Group Y: Goa 2-2 Punjab - Goals: 1:0 Francis Silveira (33'), 1:1,2:2 Sukhjit Singh (45',79'), 2:1 Alvito D'Cunha (71').

Note-1: Former Mohun Bagan striker, Nigerian Chima Okerie has announced his retirement from professional football. In an interview to Sports Time on Doordarshan, Okerie said he was quitting soccer to concentrate on his business. Okerie, who was slapped a two- year ban and a Rs 300.000 fine by the AIFF last year for assaulting a referee, said he was innocent but his club (Mohun Bagan) refused to appeal against the ban and fine. He, however, denied that the ban forced him to retire. He said he had no plans to appeal. "It's over for everbody and football is no more in the picture," he said. The 35-year old Nigerian made his debut in India in 1985 when he turned out for Calcutta`s East Bengal club and had been a star attraction since then. He continued to command a huge popularity until his suspension last year. Okerie said that the standard of football in India is falling and it was time the game was managed professionally. "The authorities here do not know that soccer is big business because it is not managed professionally." The Nigerian said he would miss the adulation of the fans, but it was time to call it a day. He said he would like to give something back to the game and would like to set up a football academy in Calcutta. ''I love this country and this is my home." Okerie scored over 300 goals in his 15-year career in India.

11. April
56th Santosh Trophy - Quarterfinal Group X: Kerala 5-2 Services - Goals: 1:0 Sylvester Ignatius (2'), 1:1 Preetam Bahadur (20'), 2:1,3:2,4:2,5:2 Asif Saheer (43',62',64',69'), 2:2 Johnny Gangmei (54').
56th Santosh Trophy - Quarterfinal Group Y: Tamil Nadu 0-4 Maharashtra - Goals: 0:1 Mohammed Najeeb (2'), 0:2 Khalid Jamil (8'), 0:3 Khalid Siddique (17'), 0:4 Naushad Moosa (68').

10. April
56th Santosh Trophy - Quarterfinal Group X: Bengal 2-2 Karnataka - Goals: 1:0 Dipankar Roy (1'), 2:0 Raman Vijayan (63'), 2:1 Sunil Kumar (79'), 2:2 RC Prakash (88').

9. April
56th Santosh Trophy - Quarterfinal Group Y: Tamil Nadu 1-1 Punjab - Goals: 1:0 Syed Shabir Pasha (79'), 1:1 Sukhjit Singh (90').

8. April
56th Santosh Trophy - Quarterfinal Playoffs: Maharashtra 5-1 Orissa - Goals: 1:0,3:1,5:1 Mohammed Najeeb (22',35',79'), 2:0 Manjith Singh (30'), 2:1 Nipendra Das (32'), 4:1 Ali Abbas Rizvi (75').

7. April
56th Santosh Trophy - Cluster VIII: Maharashtra 7-0 Haryana - Goals: 1:0,5:0 Mohammed Najeeb (24', 62'), 2:0,4:0 Manjit Singh (28',50'), 3:0 Khalid Siddique (42'), 6:0 Aqueel Ansari (64'), 7:0 Asif Jamal (77').
56th Santosh Trophy - Quarterfinal Playoffs: Railways 0-2 Punjab - Goals: 0:1 Jaswinder Singh (64'), 0:2 Rampal (80').
56th Santosh Trophy - Quarterfinal Playoffs: Karnataka 2-0 Uttar Pradesh - Goals: 0:1 Peter (54'), 0:2 Sunil (56').

Note-1: India will take part in a four-nation football tournament in Maldives, starting May 1, according to AIFF sources. The tournament is organised to commemorate the golden jubillee celebrations of the Maldives Football Federation. The invitation tournament has nearly become a mini SAF championship after the organisers decided to include Bangladesh in place of Malaysia. The other teams are hosts Maldives, Sri Lanka and India. The matches will be played on round robin basis with the top two teams again meeting in the final.

Note-2: Thr first spectacular transfer for the new season. Former India captain and Salgaocar coach Shabbir Ali has quit the Goan club and has joined Mahindra&Mahindra (Mumbai), according to information received here. Mahindras were virtually without a coach during the whole of National League after they decided to sack SS Hakeem. Shabbir Ali, who led India to the Asian Youth championship title in 1974, was with Salgaocar for three years. Salgaocar won National League once in the 1998-99 season during this period and also bagged Goan league, Durand Cup, Rovers Cup and Super Cup.

6. April
56th Santosh Trophy - Cluster VIII: Maharashtra vs Haryana - abandoned due to rain.
56th Santosh Trophy - Quarterfinal Playoffs: Railways vs Punjab - not held due to rain.

Note-1: The Asian Football Confederation has okayed Rustam Akramov's coaching India for the Asian under-19 qualifiers, in Colombo later this year. A fax message from the AFC clearing the proposal, forwarded by the AIFF, reached the secretary's office today. It was signed by AFC general-secretary Peter Velappan. AIFF secretary KN Mour said preparations would start next month. Project director Albert Colaco has been asked to prepare the programme, Mour said, speaking over the phone from Guwahati. Mour also said the AIFF has proposed that the pre-World Cup group featuring India be staged in two legs instead of all matches being played in one country. India, Yemen, Brunei and the UAE comprise the group. India has offered to host one leg, he said. The United Arab Emirates is likely to host the other. The hosts would have to provide for travel expenses, accommodation, daily allowance and all other incidental costs involved. Mour said it could cost the AIFF around Rs 2,000,000 to stage the four-team competition.

5. April
56th Santosh Trophy - Cluster V: Uttar Pradesh 0-0 Madhya Pradesh
56th Santosh Trophy - Cluster VI: Karnataka 10-2 Jammu&Kashmir - Goals: 1:0,7:0 R C Prakash (2', 31'), 2:0 Murali (22'), 3:0,4:0 Sunil (25', 27'), 5:0,8:1,9:1,10:2 Peter (26', 47', 62', 81'), 6:0 Xavier Vijayakumar (28'), 7:1 Ranjeet Singh (32'), 9:2 Gurmeet Singh (63').

Note-1: The AIFF's efforts to find a title sponsor for the National football championship for the Santosh Trophy has proven futile. The main phase of the tournament is scheduled to begin in Municipal Stadium Thrissur on April 9. However, Indian Oil, Coca-Cola and BPL Mobile have agreed to be the co-sponsors, according to the Kerala FA officials. Bharat Petroleum, who were associated with the Senior Nationals from 1993, decided to pull out because they felt they were not getting adequate mileage from the tournament. The absence of live coverage was another reason. The AIFF decision to conduct the 56th edition without the title sponsor has come as a surprise to the local organisers as the federation president Priyaranjan Das Munshi had promised to finalise the deal with Indian Oil before the commencement of the quarterfinal league.

4. April
56th Santosh Trophy - Cluster IV: Punjab 2-0 Pondicherry - Goals: 1:0,2:0 Jaswinder Singh (11',69').

Note-1: Former national coach Syed Nayeemuddin has been appointed coach of the East Bengal for the coming season, club president Pranab Dasgupta said in Calcutta. Nayeemuddin, the only Dronacharya Awardee in football, replaces Subhas Bhowmick under whom East Bengal put up a lacklustre performance in the just-concluded season. Nayeemuddin, who was the Mohun Bagan coach last year, had to make way for Subrata Bhattacharjee midway into the season after the National Football League champions suffered a string of upsets in consecutive tournaments.

3. April
56th Santosh Trophy - Cluster IV: Punjab 1-0 Tripura - Goal: 1:0 Kuldeep Singh (70').
56th Santosh Trophy - Cluster V: Assam 1-1 Madhya Pradesh - Goals: 0:1 Mustak Ali Khan (19'), 1:1 Akum Ao (73').

Note-1: The 2.Division National League is over with Air India, Mumbai and Vasco SC, Goa getting promotion to the Premier Division National League, while Calcutta giants Mohammedan Sporting have failed for the fourth time to enter the high profile league. On their way down to the 2.Division are Border Security Force, Jalandhar and Dempo SC, Goa.

Note-2: A three-day residential workshop for youth soccer coaches from the districts, organised jointly by the IFA (Bengal) and SAI Eastern Centre, got underway at the SAI complex. The workshop, part of the Asian Football Confederation's youth development programme, is being conducted by Uzbek coach Islam Akhmadov. He will be assisted by Bengal under-16 coach Ananta Ghosh. Two coaches each from 18 districts are taking part.

2. April
2.Division National League - Promotion-Group I - Vasco: Air India 3-2 Hindustan Aeronautics Limited - Goals: 1:0 PJ Jose (24'), 1:1 Sunil (26'), 2:1,3:2 Anthony Fernandes (35',89'), 2:2 Xavier (44').
2.Division National League - Promotion-Group I - Margao: Vasco SC 2-1 Mohammedan Sporting - Goals: 0:1 Hamed Alia (38'), 1:1 Caetano Pinho (39'), 2:1 Jude Odegah (82').
Vasco SC are the second team to qualify for the National League.

56th Santosh Trophy - Cluster IV: Pondicherry 0-2 Tripura - Goals: 0:1 Sujith Ghosh (6'), 0:2 Arindam Ghosh (53').
56th Santosh Trophy - Cluster V: Assam 2-3 Uttar Pradesh - Goals: 0:1 Nandan Singh (42'), 0:2 Ajay Singh Rawat (51'), 1:2,2:2 Akum Ao (80',81'), 2:3 Jatin Singh Bisht (81').
56th Santosh Trophy - Cluster VII: Delhi 2-1 Chandigarh - Goals: 0:1 Viney Kanwar (8'), 1:1 Vimal Thapa (34'), 2:1 Hitender Rawat (83').

Note-1: Mohun Bagan celebrated their second National Football League victory with a musical soiree and a mela-like spread at the club ground this evening. A relaxed evening turned lackadaisical when the champion team members turned up in shirt sleeves or T-shirts. Blazers look smarter, but probably need a bit more imagination. The club announced cash awards of Rs 12,000 to each player and Rs 25,000 to coach Subrata Bhattacharya for the victory.

1. April
56th Santosh Trophy - Cluster V: Assam vs Uttar Pradesh - abandoned due to rain

Press friend Sunil Warrier reports that the AIFF has announced that the annual inter-state transfer of players would be from April 1 to 15. AIFF in a circular to various units said state units should forward their observation on the applications to the national governing body by April 30 for ratifying the transfers.