Kerala Football Association

The Kerala Football Association (abbreviated Kerala FA) is one of the 37 Indian state football associations that are affiliated to the All India Football Federation. The Kerala FA administers lower tier football in the state of Kerala.[1]


Kerala Football Association
AbbreviationKFA
Formation1948
HeadquartersKochi
Region served
Kerala
President
Tom Jose
AffiliationsAll India Football Federation
Websitewww.keralafa.com

History

Football has been a passion of thousands of Malayalees for the last several decades—much before the state of Kerala was formed on 1 November 1956. Kerala Football Association was formed in 1948 to directly oversees the development of football in Kerala from grassroots to senior level.

Later the headquarters of KFA was moved to Kollam after P Laxmanan Pillai was elected president and K Thankappan Honorary Secretary. KFA saw a new breed of organizers taking over the reins in the 1970s with former Mayor of Cochin A. K Seshadri becoming its president.

KFA currently has its first full-time secretary in Ernakulam, P Anil Kumar a former Services football player and DFB – B Licence holder, who has been appointed in accordance with the Football Confederation AFC (Asian Football Confederation) and AIFF statutes and guidelines.

2021 Privatization

On 9 October 2021, Kerala Football Association signed a twelve year long deal with Meeran Sports LLP and Scoreline Sports Pvt Ltd. The deal was inspired from masterplan prepared by Rob Baan, former technical director of All India Football Federation namely Lakshya Scheme. The consortium is confident of getting investments worth around Rs 350 crore into the football ecosystem over the 12-year period. The consortium will pay Rs 15 crore to the KFA for the commercial rights for 12 years. A further 15 percent of the profit per year from the new company is also promised.[2][3]

Kerala Super League

As per the agreement consortium will form a new league by 2023 which will be the elite league in Kerala Football. This league will operate parallel to the current Kerala Premier League and will be named Kerala Super League. Kerala Super League will have 8 teams in the beginning and will be played in home and away format. The winner of both league will play each other for a spot in the I-League 2nd Division. The league will be open for existing Kerala Premier League teams also. Also there is plan to introduce promotion and relegation in the future where Kerala Super League will be tier 1 and Kerala Premier League will be tier 2.[2][3]

Evolution
League/Years 1948 1948–1952 1952–1970 1970–1998 1998–2007 2007–2013 2013–2015 2013–2016 2016–2017 2017–2021 2021–2023 2023–
Tier
League 1 Formation

of Kerala Football Association

 None Kerala Football League None Kerala Premier League Kerala Super League (Proposed)
2 None Kerala Premier League
1 None Kerala Women's League None Kerala Women's League
Tournament None Kerala State Club Football Championship Discontinued Super Cup (Proposed)
Senior Inter-District Men's Football Championship
None Sait Nagjee Football Tournament Not Conducted

R B Ferguson Club

R B Ferguson Club is the oldest football club in Kerala and South India. It was established on 20 February 1899 in Thrissur (Thrissivaperur).[4][5][6][7] The club was named after the Kochi police superintendent, R B Ferguson.

Kerala Premier League

As a step to give more competence and professionalism for the football clubs in Kerala, KFA launched the Kerala Premier League in January 2014. Twelve teams participated in the first season.

References
  1. "All India Football Federation - About AIFF - State Associations". AIFF. Archived from the original on 21 March 2012. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  2. "Explained: Kerala FA's 12-year commercial rights deal and the plan to revamp football in the state". Deccan Herald. 11 October 2021. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  3. Rayan, Stan. "Meerans-Scoreline bags Kerala Football Association's commercial rights for 12 years". Sportstar. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  4. "Sports in Thrissur". Thrissur Online. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  5. S.S. Shreekumar (2020). The Best Way Forward: For India's Football. Bangalore: H.S.R.A. Publications. p. 107. ISBN 978-81-947216-9-7.
  6. "Ollur's football club turns 115 years today" (subscription required). Mathrubhumi.com. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  7. Anirudh Menon. "Blast from the Present: Kerala's resurgence into football prominence". SportsKeeda. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.