Courtesy: Press Trust of India


Second season of Premier Futsal announced

Mumbai, Aug 30 (PTI) The second season of the Premier Futsal will be held in four cities with eight teams, it was announced here today.

The first season was held in July this year involving six teams and the matches were played in Chennai and Mapusa in Goa.

The second season will be played in the first quarter of 2017 and the franchises will be divided into two groups.

The first season saw marquee players like former Manchester United legends Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, former Chelsa player Hernan Crespo, Michel Salgado and Falcao and all of them are expected to be back for the second season as well.

"We will be adding two more teams into the mix (for the second season), which means that the number of legends will increase by two. So we will be bringing legends, (who are) bigger... I wouldn't say bigger because there are very few who can call themselves bigger than the guys we have got, (but) of the same milk, guys will be added to talent pool in legends category," Co-founder and CEO Abhinandan Balasubramanian told a select group of reporters here.

"Because of the increase in number of teams, additional international futsalers will be coming in the mix and the existing players (of) all the teams will go into a player draft, the process of which will be announced in the next two weeks," he said, adding there will be six international players (in a team).

"The existing players.. 90 per cent of them are in three or five year contracts, be the legends or the futsal players, they are all under three to five year contract, so I can safely say all of them will be returning for the next season," he added.

"The four cities we will be going in would most likely be the four cities we did not go in the first season, so Bangalore, Mumbai, Kochi and Kolkata. Chennai and Goa have been the venues for the first season," he added.

The organisers also said they are in talks with former English footballer David Beckham and Brazilian Kaka.

"The response has been positive. Beckham and Kaka are keen to play futsal in India. It is not because of the money that they are coming. We have given our players good stay and security. It's about our vision that they are interested in.

We can t just bring them with money," Managing Director and Co-Founder Dinesh Raj said.



Courtesy: First Post


Premier Futsal to have eight franchises in second season

Mumbai: Premier Futsal on Tuesday announced that the second season of the football league will be played in the first quarter of 2017 with eight franchises participating across four cities.
The Premier Futsal management also made their intentions to host the league bi-annually from next year onwards, according to a release.

Premier Futsal's first season was held in India earlier this year.
It saw former football stars Ronaldinho, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Hernan Crespo and Michel Salgado play in the tournament.
"We managed to get the biggest marquee players to our country for Premier Futsal and the fans in the stadium and those watching it on TV thoroughly enjoyed the experience. We are confident about what we are doing and therefore have decided to make Premier Futsal a bi-annual property," Xavier Britto, Premier Futsal chairman said in the release.

"Riding on the success of Season One, we will go back to our plan of playing with 8 franchises and all the international futsallers will go under the hammer for Season Two. We will be announcing the processes and auction dates over the course of the next one month."

"We are humbled and thank the Indian government's support for allowing Premier Futsal to introduce a new sport to the country and with their support, we wish to grow Futsal from strength to strength here," Britto added.

The second edition of the league will see eight franchises divided in two groups to battle it across four venues to make it to the final.

The two new franchises will be assigned marquee international football players, six international and five Indian players each.




Courtesy: Yahoo Sports


Premier Futsal: Dinesh Raj - Beckham and Kaka are interested to play in India

Aug 30, 2016

Premier Futsal will be back in 2017 between the months of January and March, the Premier Futsal management had announced after the success of the first edition that took place in July 2016, with former International stars such as Ronaldinho, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Michel Salgado, Falcao and Hernan Crespo lighting up the tournament and attracting fans just by their mere presence.

The question that begs now is how one tops that list of International footballing icons, who were world beaters during their prime. Managing Director and co-founder of Premier Futsal, Dinesh Raj told the media about their recent strides in getting the big names. He claimed that the likes of David Bekham and Kaka are interested in the league’s vision and could fly to India in 2017.

He stated, “Beckham and Kaka are interested to play in Premier Futsal. It is not because of the money that they are coming. It’s about our vision which they are interested in. We can’t just bring them with money.”

If David Beckham does decide to participate in Premier Futsal, he would be following the footsteps of former Manchester United teammates Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs. The duo played for Bengaluru 5’s and Mumbai 5’s respectively, with Ryan Giggs’ Mumbai being crowned the eventual champions. Kaka, would also be reunited with former AC Milan teammate Hernan Crespo.

CEO and Co-founder, Abhinandan Balasubramanian shed further light on Season 2, revealing the ongoing talks with other futsal federations over rule changes and league expansion. He also stated that most of the marquee players would be back for Season 2.

“Most of the marquee players from first season will return. However, it will also depend on if someone gets a managerial role,” said Abhinanadan, who is probably hinting at Ryan Giggs, who could go back to coaching after a recent stint as assistant coach under Louis Van Gaal at Manchester United.

He also disclosed, “This season, we will be making a few changes to the rules to make the game even faster. We are already in talks with multiple international Futsal Federations and several Futsal Clubs to reach out to a wider audience globally and consolidate our position as market leaders.”

The management of Premier Futsal had also announced plans of expanding the League for Season 2. The second edition will be played in four cities - Kochi, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Mumbai. The number of franchises would also be back to the original number of eight teams, as was the case before the first edition. It was also announced that the League would be a Bi-annual tournament, owing to its short format.


Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com