Live India, Love Football

Along with the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) and the All India Football Federation (AIFF), we hosted the second edition of FICCI Goal last week in Delhi.  FICCI Goal is the largest conference hosted in the country specifically discussing the business of Indian football. I was pleased with how the event turned out as we had the right mix of Indian football property owners, top AIFF administrative and technical staff and foreign delegates to ensure quality conversation. Not surprisingly, the topic of most interest to everyone was India's preparation for the U-17 FIFA World Cup which will be hosted in India in 2017.  Rob Baan (AIFF Technical Director), Wim Koovermans (Indian National Team Head Coach) and Baichung Bhutia (Former Indian National Team Captain) answered all the delegates questions during a rousing 1.5 hour panel discussion.  I moderated a session dear to my heart entitled, "Academies & Soccer Schools - Benefits, Cha...

I’ve been spending a whole lot of time in Goa lately unfortunately not on the beach but crouched over my laptop in hotel conference rooms and offices. That said, I do have one highlight from one of my recent Goa trips which is worth sharing as I’m sure the 10 followers of this blog have no interest in hearing about all of the different types of sea creatures I consumed in between marathon sessions working on business plans. This highlight was attending Salgaocar FC’s community coaching program.  Over the past few years of living in India I’ve visited most I-League clubs and although I’ve been impressed with the passion, commitment and resilience exhibited by many of the club’s key management, I haven’t been too overly impressed with their quality of community outreach programming especially when clubs are spending $2 - $3 million a year on player salaries. That being said, I can confidently say that Salgaocar FC stands apart in this area. I experienced something special t...

We hosted another party at the Libero House. This time it was to celebrate our 3 year anniversary and another year of being India's leading football consultancy. Many friends from the industry made appearances with highlights being Indian National Team striker Robin Singh and his family and Indian National Team Captain Sunil Chhetri's family.  Robin's Father made a touching speech about how we have cared for his son like family for 3 years helping him go from an Academy player to starting forward for India.  These are special moments and I'm glad that we often take time out of our hectic schedules to celebrate the past and dream about the future, it surely does make a difference.  Looking forward to 3 more years of fun and growth.... Here are some pictures from the party: