31. October
113th Durand Cup - Pre-Quarterfinal Playoff: State Bank of Travancore 1-2 Tata Football Academy - Goals: 0:1 Subhash Chakraborty (27'), 1:1 V.P. Shaji (35'), 1:2 Malswam Tulunga (80').

Note-1: The Indian Football Association has received a proposal from Siliguri Mahakuma Krira Parishad for staging important National League matches featuring Mohun Bagan and East Bengal, Ranjit Gupta, one of the joint secretaries of the IFA, said today that he would place Siliguri's proposal before the National League committee in New Delhi on Thursday. The IFA representative was informed by the West Bengal Sports Ministry that the Saltlake Stadium would not be available from 15 November till the final of the Millennium Cup (25 January) for construction work and a relaying of the pitch. Mr Gupta added that there should not be any problem in staging National League matches at the Rabindra Sarovar Stadium.

30. October
113th Durand Cup - Pre-Quarterfinal League - Group A: Indian Nationals FC 1-1 Bhutan XI - Goals: 0:1 Wangay Dorgi (36'), 1:1 Yakubu Rubiu Mallam (75').
113th Durand Cup - Pre-Quarterfinal League - Group B: Tata Football Academy 3-0 Youngmen SC - Goals: 1:0 Malswam Tulunga (48'), 2:0 Syed Rahim Nabi (62'), 2:0 Avinash Thapa (68').

Note-1: The national preparatory camp for the Millennium Cup is likely to start from the last week of December. The chief national coach Sukhwinder Singh, has said that he would like to submit a list of footballers for the camp to the federation in the first week of next month. "The final list will only be prepared after consultation with the All India Football Federation president, Priyaranjan Dasmunshi", he informed. The National League, which will begin on Nov 28, will be suspended for a month on Dec 20 because of the Millennium Cup. The players will be given rest for one week before calling them for the national camp. The venue for the camp may be somewhere nearer to the place where India will play their matches. The Millennium Cup is to be played in Calcutta, Kochi and Goa.

29. October
113th Durand Cup - Pre-Quarterfinal League - Group A: State Bank of Travancore 4-0 Indian Nationals FC - Goals: 1:0,2:0,4:0 Asif Saheer (22',37',56'), 3:0 V.P. Shaji (48').
113th Durand Cup - Pre-Quarterfinal League - Group B: Army XI 1-2 Youngmen SC - Goals: 1:0 Pritam Bahadur (2'), 1:1 Sanjeev Sharma (65'), 1:2 Praveen Arora (89').

28. October
113th Durand Cup - Pre-Quarterfinal League - Group A: State Bank of Travancore 4-2 Bhutan XI - Goals: 1:0 Jiju Jacob (20'), 2:0 Abdul Hakkim (31'), 3:0 V.P. Shaji (44'), 4:0 Asif Saheer (66'), 4:1 Sangay Dupka (72'), 4:2 Wangay Dorji (80').
113th Durand Cup - Pre-Quarterfinal League - Group B: Tata Football Academy 0-0 Army XI - Goals: none.

Note-1: The West Bengal Government have decided to revamp the Salt Lake Stadium. Rs 19.000.000 have been earmarked for the venture, according to Mr Asoke Ghosh, vice-president of the AIFF. But a Sports Ministry spokesman said that it had been decided in principle to allot a special fund for the renovation of the stadium but the file has not been yet cleared by the State Finance Ministry. Mr Ghosh said that a joint-inspection will take place on Monday. Work will not be confined to the galleries, but the pitch will also be dug and is expected to be relaid by 31 December. This is the first attempt of the authorities to initiate a face-lift to the stadium since the Nehru Gold Cup series played here. The first soccer match at the stadium was staged on 25 January, 1984. The decision of the State Sports Ministry was prompted by the fact that the Millennium Cup, with 16 leading soccer-playing nations taking part, will be played at the stadium from 10 to 25 January, 2001.

Note-2: China has won the right to host the 2004 Asian Cup, beating Thailand 10-6 in a vote by the executive committee of the Asian Football Confederation. The tournament would then be a 16 team affair, from the current 12.

26. October
113th Durand Cup - Qualifier League: Youngmen SC 4-1 Indian Navy - Goals: 1:0,3:0 Parveen Arora (15',69'), 2:0 Aftab Ashraf (31'), 4:0 Ramesh Rawat (88'), 4:1 Biswanath Sarkar (89').

25. October
113th Durand Cup - Qualifier League: Indian Nationals FC 3-2 Indian Air Force - Goals: 1:0 Pushpender Singh (5'), 2:0 Trilok Singh Bisht (15'), 2:1 K. Pal (53'), 3:1 Shekhar Khanna (76'), 3:2 S.K. Hussein (85').

Note-1: I found the following article on the FIFA website regarding the Millenium Cup.
India will host a 16-nation soccer tournament from 10 to 25 January next year, the president of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) said on Monday. He also confirmed the participation of Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, Yugoslavia, Cameroon, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, Japan, Iraq, Jordan, Iceland, New Zealand, Uzbekistan, Bahrain and India. The event has already been approved by FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation.
Interesting to see that the list of teams has once again changed. This time two teams from Europe are in the lists, they are Yugoslavia and Iceland, while Hongkong is out of the list.

Note-2: No activities will take place at Rabindra Sarobar Stadium from November 6 to 20 as the authorities concerned have decided to relay its turf. Tollygunge Agragami, who play their National League home matches at the stadium, have been asked not to practise there during this period. Tollygunge, under their new coach, Amal Dutta, will train at the SAI centre in Saltlake City. Tollygunge's first National League match at Rabindra Sarobar Stadium is set for November 29.

24. October
113th Durand Cup - Qualifier League: Youngmen SC vs Assam Regimental Centre
22th Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup - Final: Mohun Bagan 3-0 Air India - Goals: 1:0 R.C. Prakash (28'), 2:0 Joao dos Santos (36'), 3:0 Jose Barreto (90').

Note-1: The Telegraph reports that the Mohun Bagan quartet of Amitava Chanda, Shib Shankar Santra, Jayanta Sen and Amar Ganguly may run into trouble. The players allegedly bashed up reserve goalkeeper Bivash Ghosh in a drunken brawl at the team hotel in Gangtok yesterday. Club secretary Anjan Mitra said he has "heard" of the incident and team manager Haru Mondal has been asked to submit a report to the club's football convenor. "The matter will be looked into and if found guilty, the players may be suspended upto one year." Mitra said. The team returns to the city tomorrow after its victory in the Governor's Gold Cup.

23. October
113th Durand Cup - Qualifier League: Indian Nationals FC 3-1 MEG, Bangalore - Goals: 0:1 Chetri (8'), 1:1 Trilok Singh Bisht (22'), 2:1 Pushpender Singh (88'), 3:1 Manjeet Singh (89').
113th Durand Cup - Qualifier League: Indian Air Force 1-1,3-1 Shahdara FC (after penalties) - Goals: 1:0 Sonaram Champia, 1:1 Samir Jung (72').

22. October
22th Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup - Semifinal: Mohun Bagan 2-1 Army XI (golden Goal) - Goals: 1:0,2:1 Jose Barreto (41',95'), 1:1 Sajidh Kumar (83').

Note-1: The National Football League for the 2000-2001 season will begin from November 28. This has been decided in the meeting of the NFL Committee in Delhi. The 12-team, two-tier league will continue for more than four months and will finish in the first week of April. According to AIFF sources, there will be no NFL matches for two weeks between January 10 to 25 since the national team will participate in the Millennium Cup during that period. The meeting today was attended by all the senior officials of the AIFF, barring secretary KN Mour, and representatives of some of the participating clubs like Mohun Bagan, Churchill Brothers, Vasco and ITI. Sources said that there was no discussion on the sponsors of the NFL but some members assumed that Coca Cola will continue to back the high-profile championship. "The papers on rules and regulations that was circulated among the members for discussion had Coca Cola League written on the top of it," said a member, who attended the meeting. The two relegated teams of last year - Dempo SC and BSF - appealed to the NFL committee to reconsider their cases and take them back in the fold but it was rejected in the meeting. Among the new rules framed was the stricter process of registration of players for the teams. While teams can register a maximum of 27 players, the whole process of registration has to be completed by the 20th round. There is some confusion about the start of the NFL on November 28. The Rovers Cup final is likely to be played on the same day and some teams have asked for deferment of NFL for a few days. Meanwhile, the AIFF president Priyaranjan DasMunshi announced in the meeting that he would ask the national coach Sukhwinder Singh to spot the players for the Millennium Cup during the NFL. Then the AIFF would negotiate with the respective clubs to release the players for the Millennium Cup and pre-World Cup matches. To ask the clubs to release their best footballers during the NFL might cause confusion and meet with resentment from the clubs, some members felt. When the sensitive topic of last season's payments of teams came up for discussion, the AIFF officials promised to clear all the dues before the start of this year's NFL. The AIFF is yet to pay any of last season's prize money to the teams. The NFL committee also decided to constitute an award in the memory of Jarnail Singh for the best defender of the league. IFA, the parent body of Bengal football, has already announced a similar award for their domestic league. Incidentally, the NFL committee is yet to announce the individual awards for the last National Football League.

21. October
Calcutta Super Division - Relegation Round (second leg): SAIL 1-0 Salkia Friends - Goal: 1:0 Supriya Dasgupta.
Calcutta Super Division - Relegation Round (second leg): Food Corporation of India 1-0 Eastern Railway - Goal: 1:0 Amar Pyne.
Salkia Friends and Eastern Railway are relegated to the Calcutta Football League first division.
22th Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup - Semifinal: Air India 1-0 Nepal Police - Goal: 1:0 Anthony Fernandes.

Note-1: The National Football League Committee is to meet on Sunday in New Delhi to prepare the draw and other modalities of the upcoming National League Football. The committee will take a decision whether to make the NFL a 16-team event. The Asian Football Confedration secretary, Peter Velappan, in March 2000 had advocated the need for a 16-team NFL spread over a period of six months. The NFL, which was started four years back with just eight teams, saw the addition of two teams in the second edition of the league, to make it a ten-team league. Thereafter, Tollygunge Aggragami and ITI qualified for the third edition of the league and the league was played as a 12 team league in the last two years. Alberto Colaco was recently appointed as the chairman of the NFLC.

Note-2: Sports Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi were among hundreds of people who today paid homage to the late Jarnail Singh, when his body arrived at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi. Mr Dhindsa offered his deep condolences to the family of Jarnail Singh and said the void created by his death was impossible to fill. IOA Secretary-General Randhir Singh and All-India Football Federation chief Priyaranjan Dasmunshi were also present to receive his body and pay their last respects to the departed soul.

20. October
22th Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup - Quarterfinals: Mohun Bagan 3-1 Border Security Force

19. October
22th Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup - Quarterfinals: Mohammedan Sporting 1-2 Air India (golden Goal) - Goals: 1:0 Abdul Khalique (51'), 1:1 Anthony Fernandes (74'), 2:1 Henry Picardo (111').

Note-1: The Goa Football Association and Zee Sports have entered into a long term agreement for the marketing and telecasting of all the official competitions of the GFA. The GFA secretary, Agnelo Alcasoas and CEO of Zee Sports, Satish Menon signed the agreement, which is for 15 years and comes into force from the 2001-2002 season. Addressing a press conference held in the city Mr Menon stated that Zee Sports has signed with one of the most progressive football association in India. He said that negotiations are in progress with some other leading state association and these would be signed in the next few months.
Mr Menon said that the Zee Sports Channel, which will be launched in December, will give prominence to soccer by telecasting live matches or in capsule form.
Joaquim Alemao, president of the GFA said that although the agreement would come into effect from the next season, as a gesture of goodwill Zee Sports had accepted GFA’s request to sponsor the youth development programme for this season. Mr Alcasoas was confident that the agreement would give a big boost to Goan Football. Since many matches at various levels, from the Professional League to the u-13 events, would be telecast on the Zee Sports Channel, he hoped that this would help the clubs participating in the GFA’s tournaments to get sponsors.

Note-2: Kapil Dev may have kissed good-bye to cricket but he is now available for marketing of football in the country.Henna Juneja, CEO of Studio 2100, the organizers of the Millennium Super Soccer Cup, said that along with Kapil famous former Cameroon footballer Roger Milla will also be on the board of directors of the event. Kapil will advice on conceptualizing and managing the event, she added. The mega soccer event with $ 325,000 prize money has attracted teams from Greece, Cameroon, Uruguay, Jamaica, Uzbekistan, Bahrain, Yugoslavia, Qatar, Jordan, South Africa, Colombia, Chile and New Zealand among others.

18. October
Calcutta Super Division - Relegation Round (first leg): Salkia Friends 0-1 SAIL - Goal: 0:1 Ranjit Halder.
Calcutta Super Division - Relegation Round (first leg): Eastern Railway 0-0 Food Corporation of India - Goals: none.
22th Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup - Quarterfinals: Army XI 3-0 Kerala Police - Goals: 1:0 Sajith Kumar (44'), 2:0 Saroj Gurung (69'), 3:0 Seiming Thang (81').

17. October
22th Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup - Quarterfinals: Nepal Police 6-5 Tollygunge Agragami (after penalties) - Goals: 0:1 Samson Singh (35'), 1:1 Sandesh Shrestha (47').

Note-1: The AIFF annual general body meeting and elections for the office bearers will be held at Mumbai on 9 December.
This was decided by the Federation executive committee in this meeting held in New Delhi recently declared Unconstitutional by a contain of the AIFF officials including the federation general secretary KN Mour.
Sources in the AIFF, the meeting also decided to form a three member committee to oversee the working of the federation, which generally looks by the secretary of the federations. While the preoccupations of the secretary, with other things was shown the reasons, it was a clear case to curb Mour's powers, the sources added.
The meeting on 11 October held at the AIFF office in Delhi, the bitter rift between the president and the secretary stood further exposed Mour was against holding the meeting on 11 October and convened at the same venue on 1 November next as desired by the federation president. But the federation president called the meeting on his own and went ahead with the proposed agenda.

Note-2: The body of legendary footballer Jarnail Singh, who died in Vancouver, Canada,three days back, will be brought to India on October 21 by a British Airways flight which will touch down at the Indira Gandhi International Airport at 11.05 a.m.,according to family sources.
The former Olympian’s son, Harshmohan Singh, will escort the body which will be received by the Union Sports Minister, Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, son-in-law Sukhbir Singh and Balraj Singh, Arjuna Award winner Gurdev Singh, who is Superintendent of Police at Jalandhar, and senior football coach RK Bhanot besides other officials and dignitaries connected with the game. It will then be taken to his native village, Panam, near Hoshiarpur for the last rites. The cremation will take place on October 22 at 1 p.m.

16. October
22th Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup - Pre-Quarterfinals: Kerala Police 3-0 Baba National Sports Academy, Kathmandu

Note-1: Legendary footballer Jarnail Singh, who died in Vancouver, Canada, two days back, will be given a state funeral, according to highly placed sources in the Punjab Government.
Arrangements are being made for holding the last rites at his native village Panam in Hoshiarpur district. Although the body of the ex-Olympian is yet to arrive from Canada, senior government functionaries are in constant touch with football officials to ensure a trouble-free passage for members of the family of the deceased who are expected to escort the body. Among others, Jarnail Singh's son, Harshmohan Singh, will be arriving from Vancouver for the cremation.
Allaying fears of security hassles at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi upon arrival of the soccer star's body, the Union Sports Minister, Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, has decided to receive the body, which will then be taken to Panam by road for the last rites. Although a final word regarding the exact date of arrival is still awaited, unconfirmed reports today said the body would be reaching by Friday. The only hassle appears to be flight-bookings but as national coach Sukhwinder Singh, said, the respective airlines is expected to treat the matter on priority keeping in view the stature of the sports star.

15. October
Hello Everyone! I'm back in Germany from Calcutta again!!!
Sorry for no updates at all from Calcutta. I was very busy with family affairs and matters related to Indian football and adding to that the FTP access was so bad that no files could be properly transferred. Proper updates from today again but the backlog will take a few days...

Goan Professional League: Churchill Brothers 1-2 Salgaocar SC - Goals: 1:0 Francis Silveira (44'), 1:1,1:2 Alvito D'Cunha (52',65').
22th Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup - Pre-Quarterfinals: Border Security Force 6-5 Gorkha Brigade (after penalties)
22th Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup - Pre-Quarterfinals: Nepal Police 5-1 Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council

Note-1: One of the legendary defenders in Indian football Jarnail Singh died in Vancouver, Cananda on Friday due to asthmatic disorder, according to information received here.
Jarnail Singh (64), a widower, had gone to visit his son Harshmohan in Vancouver four months back. He was rushed to hospital on Friday after he complained of breathlessness, but the end came soon after. A leading light of the golden age of Indian football in the 60s', Jarnail Singh played a key role in India'a gold medal winning performance at the Jakarta Games in 1962 and led the National side in the Asian Games in Bangkok four years later.Meanwhile, soccer afficandoes in the country were grief-stricken at the death of Jarnail Singh.
Leaders, football players and officials paid tributes to the stalwart known for his clean tackles in a game notorious for being rough.

14. October
22th Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup - Qualifiers: Baba National Sports Academy, Kathmandu 2-0 Punjab State Electricity Board - Goals: 1:0,2:0 Niranjan Ray Majhi (23',45').
22th Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup - Pre-Quarterfinals: Air India 2-1 Bhutan XI - Goals: 0:1 W. Dorji, 1:1,2:1 Herbert Philip
Goan Professional League: Dempo SC 1-0 MPT SC - Goal: 1:0 Levy Coelho (35').

Note-1: At least seven teams, including those from the three city-based glamour outfits, will take part in the Jayanti Biswas memorial football tournament, starting at Port Blair on October 17. The six-day long under-19 tournament is named after a promising canoeist and trainee of the SAI camp there who died in a train accident early this year. It is being held under the aegis of the SAI Eastern Centre and the youth affairs & sports department of Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

13. October
Goan Professional League: Vasco SC 3-0 Sporting Clube de Goa
22th Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup - Qualifiers: Gorkha Brigade 2-0 Rising Star - Goals: 1:0 Tej Bahadur Gurung (21'), 2:0 Sachindas Rai (90').

Note-1: The Statesman reports that Baichung Bhutia may have the looks of a matinee idol but IM Vijayan has beaten him to the silver screen post. The ace football striker reportedly faced the camera for the first time on the banks of Bharatapuzha near Kozhikode, north Kerala, on Monday. The feature film, Shanthanam, is directed by Jayaraj. The film also has Seema Biswas and Lalitha. The story revolves around an otherwise innocent young man who commits a murder and is haunted by guilt, and details his relationship with the women in his life, including his mother. Jayaraj has won the National Award for Best Film for Kaliyattam, and for Karunam at the 1999 Delhi International Film Festival. He was overawed by Vijayan's expressive face, rather than his dribbling skills. Vijayan, after the initial jitters, donned the greasepaint with aplomb: "I never thought it would be so easy. I really enjoyed it," he told journalists after shooting.

12. October
22th Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup - Qualifiers: Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council 2-1 Manipur XI - Goals: 1:0,2:0 Udai Thapa (55',86'), 2:1 K. Dewan Singh (89').

11. October
22th Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup - Qualifiers: Sikkim Police 0-1 Bhutan XI - Goal: 0:1 Passang Tshering (80').

Note-1: AIFF is negotiating with a Brazilian coach and a physical trainer to take over the national team. The AIFF executive committee, in its emergency meeting yesterday, considered the proposal of FIFA executive committee member Mohammed Bin Hammam Al Abdulla for a Brazilian coach and physical trainer for the national team and authorised the president to negotiate their fees and terms and conditions at the earliest,AIFF president Dasmunshi said at a press conference.
He said AIFF had shortlisted Brazilians Edson Blevio Porto, as coach and Jose Carlos Fontes de Albuquerque, as physical trainer, but was considering their remuneration package of $7000 each plus furnished accomodation.
The Brazilian coach and physical trainer generally come together. But a combined salary of $14,000 is too much for AIFF to bear,Dasmunshi said. We are negotiating the salaries. If we can engage only one of them, we will prefer the coach,he added.
Dasmunshi said the National League Committee will meet here on October 22 under the chairmanship of Alberto Colaco, who was appointed to his new post at yesterday's meeting, to decide the schedule of the National League, which will most probably start in the last week of November. The full calendar of AIFF will also be announced the same day, he said.

Note-2: Amal Dutta has returned to coach Tollygunge Agragami for the National League. The deal was finalised today but Dutta won't start training until the team returns from the Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup. According to club secretary Mantoo Ghosh, Dutta will meet the players Friday, a day before they leave for Sikkim. His contract is up to the completion of the National League, Ghosh said.

10. October
Jaydeep Basu of the Hindustan Times reports from Delhi that the AIFF's annual general body meeting and elections for the office bearers will be held at Mumbai on December 9. This was decided by the AIFF executive committee in its meeting in Delhi, declared 'unconstitutional' by a section of the federation officials, including the general secretary, KN Mour. According to sources, the meeting also decided to form a three-member committee to expedite the working of the federation, which generally falls under the jurisdiction of the secretary. While the preoccupation of the secretary with other things was shown the reason, it was a clear attempt to curb Mour's powers the sources added. With today's meeting, held at the AIFF's Nehru Stadium office, the bitter rift between the president and the secretary stood further exposed. Mour was against holding the meeting today and convened it at the same venue on Nov 1 next "as desired by the president, AIFF". But the president Dasmunshi convened the meeting on his own and went ahead with the proposed agenda.

8. October
Goan Professional League: Vasco SC 2-4 Churchill Brothers - Goals: 1:0,4:2 Francis Silvera (27',90'), 1:1 Edson Wanderley (43'), 2:1 Khashimov Awaz (52'), 2:2 Stephen Aberwei (83'), 3:2 Jose Colaco (89') - Churchill Brothers defend their Goan League title.

7. October
Goan Professional League: Salgaocar SC 1-2 Dempo SC - Goals: 1:0 Sameer Naik (36'), 2:0 Tejinder Kumar (44'), 2:1 Climax Lawrence (45').

6. October
Goan Professional League: Sporting Clube de Goa 5-2 MPT Sports Council - Goals: 1:0 Agnelo Rego (23'), 1:1 Minguel Fernandes (28'), 2:1,3:1,4:1 Valentine Ezeugo (68',77',86'), 5:1 Pascoal Pereira (84'), 5:2 Lino Pereira.
Mumbai Harwood League - Super 5: Mahindra United 0-0 Air India - Goals: none - Mahindra United are Mumbai Harwood League champions 2000!
Mumbai Harwood League - Super 5: Central Railway 4-1 Union Bank of India

5. October
Junior Subroto Mukherjee Cup - Final: Rangadih High School, Purulia, Bengal 1-0 Army Boys Company, Danapur - Goals: 1:0 Seikh Abdul Matin.

4. October
Mumbai Harwood League - Super 5: Mahindra United beat Western Railway
Sub-Junior Subroto Mukherjee Cup - Final: SAIL School, Bokaro 1-0 Galaxy Public School, Kathmandu, NEPAL - Goal: 1:0 Mintu Saha (42').

2. October
49th Bordoloi Trophy - Final: Tata Football Academy 1-1,4-3 2nd Assam Special Reserve Force (after penalties) - Goals: 1:0 Krishna Tudu (23'), 1:1 Dwipen Teron (89').
Goan Professional League: Salgaocar SC 4-1 Sporting Clube de Goa - Goals: 1:0,3:0 Bruno Coutinho (30', 56'), 2:0 Climax Lawrence (52'), 3:1 Pascal Pereira (66'), 4:1 Alvito D'Cunha (76').
Mumbai Harwood League - Super 5: Central Railway 1-0 Western Railway - Goal: 1:0 Ameer Lotlikar.

1. October
Dhiman Sarkar wrote the following article on me and my website, which appeared today in the Hindustan Times.
He is 23, lives in Germany, loves Bayern Munich but speaks fluent Bangla and dotes on Indian football. If you think all this is a contradiction in terms, you haven't met Arunava Chaudhuri. Or, for that matter, logged on to www.indianfootball.com . A football fan since he was five, Chaudhuri started the site in 1998 because, he says, there was none on the topic and he was interested enough to float the first one. Initially placed in the server of Dusseldorf's Heinrich-Heine University, where Chaudhuri studies English, History and Media Studies, it soon had to be moved for lack of space.
Last year, he got an offer from a domain administrator in Italy and placed the site under its present address. In lieu of a company logo and advertisement banner, Chaudhuri got 500 MB space, gratis. With a little help from Indian hacks, this second generation NRI began to piece together information. After Bhaichung Bhutia shifted to Greater Manchester, Chaudhuri started a section on the Sikkimese sniper.
A resident of Remscheid - "a small town close to Dusseldorf and Cologne" - Chaudhuri is now in Calcutta on a business-cum-pleasure trip. He studied in Calcutta for five years from 1987 and it was then that he got hooked on to following the Krishanus and the Vijayans.
"During my years in Calcutta, I supported East Bengal as my parents' families come from there," he said. Chaudhuri said the site has been an eye-opener for "football-interested internet people around the world. Often, people say they were surprised to know Indians have been playing soccer for over 100 years and are as passionate about it as, say, South Americans or Europeans.
"Fewer knew that the Salt Lake Stadium could hold 1,20,000 and at times it is full during a Mohun Bagan-East Bengal match." The response from expatriate Indians, too, has been very positive.
"During the national team's tour of England, I would get 500 start hits everyday." For somebody who has set out to inform people about Indian football, that, perhaps is as good as it gets. Bhutia's joining Bury FC in the english second division meant more hits. "Many in England wanted information on Indian football. Now even Bhaichung is a regular visitor."
The site also has a link on footballers of Indian origin playing in Europe. Among them, Harpal Bedi represents Leeds United and Olympic Lyon's Vivek Dhorasu is touted as France's biggest playmaker after after Zinedine Zidane. And that's enough to make all those who thought Indian football has got nowhere, think again.

Goan Professional League: Dempo SC 0-0 Churchill Brothers - Goals: none.
Mumbai Harwood League - Super 5: Mahindra United 3-0 Union Bank of India - Goals: 1:0 S. Venkatesh, 2:0 Khalid Siddique, 3:0 Manjit Singh.