SPECIAL EDITION FEATURE - INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL 2012 THE FOOTBALL LINK IN THE PIPELINE | 25 /// INTERNATIONAL CLUBS | 5 /// SOCIAL INITIATIVES | 9 TRUE TO THE PLAYER. TRUE TO THE GAME. This magazine aims to highlight the opinions and interests of football lovers across India. This special edition covers TheFootballLink International Festival 2012 held at the Thyagaraj Stadium, New Delhi from the 6th to 13th of October. By spreading the message of football, TheFootballLink provides a platform for football enthusiasts to connect with each other and organize various initiatives in football; to support, participate and contribute to the growth of the game. 03 CONTENTS 05 PRELUDE 01 LEGACY OF INDIAN FOOTBALL An insight into the glorious past of Indian football FEATURE 08 05 INTERNATIONAL CLUB PARTNERS AC Milan Junior Camp, Italy & Manchester City Football Club, England 11 SPONSORS/PARTNERS An overview of the contributors to the International Festival 2012 13 MEDIA COVERAGE The largest football festival ever organized in 17 India 15 TESTIMONIALS International Coaches, Scouts & Agents sharing their experiences 17 CYCLE OF FOOTBALL Business, Social & Performance aspects of Football 23 INSIGHT 21 pAST INITIATIVES Initiatives organized by TheFootballLink 23 BOOK PREVIEW Stop Dribbling, Pass Now! 25 IN THE pipELINE Find out what the future holds in store for TFL 27 SPOTLIGHT 27 CAN FOOTBALL A campaign revolving around 6 questions to highlight ways in which football can benefit our country Legacy of Indian Football ootball started its journey in India when IFA-Shield Trophy. The AIFF got affiliation Fthe British rulers brought it with them from the international governing body and in no time, it became popular among for Football, FIFA in 1948 and it was also the masses. The first recorded game held one of the founder members of the Asian in India took place between the Calcutta Football Confederation (AFC) in 1954. Club of Civilians and The Gentlemen of The period from 1951 to 1962 is considered Barrackpore in 1854. The first ever football the golden era in Indian football. Under the club in the history of Indian Football, the tutelage of legendary Syed Abdul Rahim, Calcutta FC was established in 1872. India became the best team in Asia. The In 1898, the oldest in India and also the third Indian team started the 1950s with their oldest football tournament in the world, triumph in the 1951 Asian Games which the Durand Cup football tournament was they hosted. India then went on to finish started in Shimla. The first mentionable second in the 1954 Asian Games held in achievement for the Indians in Football Manila. At the 1956 Olympic Games they came in 1911, when Mohun Bagan AC finished fourth, which is regarded as one became the first Indian team to win the of finest achievements in Indian football. Latest in Indian Football India has hosted its first-ever international Didier Drogba visits Delhi for the Pepsi T20 football friendly with Argentina beating Football Tournament Grande Finale Venezuela one-nil in the eastern city of Calcutta. TIMES OF India | 18 JUNE 2012 BBC World | 2 SEPTEMber 2011 Bharti Airtel and Manchester United to kick-off Tata Tea team wins Under-15 crown in Arsenal youngsters’ football dreams tourney EconoMic TIMES | 26 JUNE 2012 ZEE news | 7 SEP 2011 Football Link International Festival kicks off India defeat Afghanistan to retain the SAFF Cup Indian EXpress | 9TH October 2012 NDTV | 11 DECEMber 2011 Diego Maradona arrived in Kerala to a Bayern Munich make Baichung Bhutia tumultuous welcome testimonial an occasion to cherish for life THE HINDU | 24 OCTOBER 2012 TIMES OF INDIA | 11 JanuarY 2012 Luis Figo to don Goa colours in friendly FC Barcelona sets up football school in Delhi TIMES of india | 28 october 2012 sportsKeeda.coM | 16 MAY 2012 IMG-Reliance in talks with Chelsea to develop India rejoices at Nehru Cup treble football academy in India FIFA.com | 3 September 2012 econoMic TIMES | 10 nov 2012 1 2 Fasdasda Hindustan Times presents TheFootballLink International Festival 2012 he success of Football relies on how Teffectively its message can be spread to the billion people across India. These festivals and talent scouting initiatives act as a communication platform to spread this message and at the same time gives an opportunity to everyone across the country to benefit from football. The Football link International Festival 2012 was the largest Football Festival ever organized in India and saw the participation of more than 5000 football players. The festival was organized in partnership with AC Milan Junior Camp, Italy & Manchester City Football Club, England. There were multiple tournaments featuring more than 400 teams - 80 team School Championship, 64 team Corporate Championship, 256 team F-cube College/Club Championship, 8 team NGO Tournament - Coaching & Scouting camp and various Social initiatives revolving around underpriviliged children. The success of the festival was due to the combined efforts of the Delhi Soccer Association (DSA), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Hindustan Times, Turkish Airlines, Rishi Narain Sports Marketing, Blackberry, Coke, Hero, Sara Towels, Special Olympics Bharat, Literacy India, Prive Networks, Thyagaraj Stadium management & staff, Delhi Development Authority Sports and numerous other supportors and contributors of the festival. 3 4 Fasdasda AC Milan is a professional Italian football club playing in the Serie A. They are one of the world’s most successful football clubs with 18 international trophies officially recognized by UEFA and FIFA. Domestically, with 18 league titles Milan is the joint-second most successful club in Serie A. 5 Fasdasda Manchester City Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Manchester, England. They are the current title holders of the English Premier League and have become a force to reckon with under the leadership of coach Roberto Mancini. They boast a star studded lineup including David Silva, Mario Balotelli, Carlos Tevez, Yaya Toure, Vincent Kompany amongst others. 6 FasdasdaManchester City FC academy coach Nick Cushing conducting a drill during the Coaching & Skill Evaluation Camp FasdasdaThe finals of the 256 team FCube Championship between Delhi Leo’s and ISS Football Club 7 FasdasdaWinners of the School Girls Championship - Modern School, Barakhamba Road (red) in action against Bharti Public School, Mayur Vihar Fasdasda Corporate teams of AIFF and IBM competing in the league stage of the 64 team Corporate Championship FasdasdaTwo players fighting for possession during the Fcube Championship qualifiers 8 Fasdasda A healthy and spirited life through physical activity is essential for the holistic development of children. A sport like football is a highly effective tool to nurture a child’s physical, psychological and mental development while also building valuable social connections in a fun environment. To ensure that underprivileged children can also benefit from football, TheFootballLink has initiated ‘Flower for a child’ social campaign to enable these children to participate in all our initiatives. As part of this social campaign, hand crafted, eco-friendly & sustainable Japanese clay flowers are sold to raise funds for equipment and coaching support of these budding footballers. These flowers have a lifetime of more than 20 years, and serve as a reminder of the joy that society collectively can bring about on an underprivileged child’s face. Fasdasda In the festival, 8 NGO teams participated in the NGO tournament with Literacy India emerging as the winners. 75 talented NGO children also participated in the Coaching & Skill Evaluation Camp conducted by the International Coaches 9 FasdasdaAC Milan coach Danilo Tedoldi conducting a shooting drill with children from the Salaam Baalak Trust during day 4 of the coaching camp FasdasdaParticipants queuing to collect their prize money and certificates at the final day of the festival 10 Sponsors/Partners Hindustan Times is one of India’s most respected and leading English dailies. Hindustan Times has been pioneering trends in journalism, setting standards and breaking new ground for the last 80 years. Spurred by the leading faces of Indian journalism, Hindustan Times has evolved with the times, reflecting the changing India and is today the newspaper of choice of over 3.7 million Indians. Turkish Airlines is the national flag carrier airline of Turkey, headquartered in the Turkish Airlines General Management Bakırköy, Istanbul. It operates scheduled services to 163 international and 41 domestic cities (38 domestic airports), serving a total of 204 airports, in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Hero is the world’s largest manufacturer of two - wheelers, based in India. In 2001, the company achieved the coveted position of being the largest two-wheeler manufacturing company in India and also, the ‘World No.1’ two-wheeler company in terms of unit volume sales in a calendar year. Hero MotoCorp Ltd. continues to maintain this position till date. Research In Motion (RIM) develops integrated hardware, software and services that support multiple wireless networks. RIM is best known for creating the BlackBerry® smartphone and providing solutions that allow seamless, mobile access to time-sensitive information through email, phone, text messages, the Internet and applications. The ‘NDTV - Coca-Cola Support My School’ campaign was initiated in January 2011 with a vision to address issues such as access to drinking water, sanitation and infrastructure facilities in schools and to create healthy, active and happy environment at schools. The campaign has touched the lives of over 43,000 children across 10 states in India, while helping to significantly reduce dropouts and absenteeism and also increase enrolments in the revitalized schools. 11 Established in 1927, FICCI is the largest and oldest apex business organisation in India. A non-government, not-for-profit organisation, FICCI is the voice of India’s business and industry. FICCI draws its membership from the corporate sector, both private and public, and enjoys an indirect membership of over 2,50,000 companies from various regional chambers of commerce.