From Andres Iniesta Tie-Up To Setting Up Coe: How Super League Kerala Is Fueling More Football Love In State

(MENAFN- IANS) New Delhi, Sep 8 (IANS) Football in Kerala is deeply rooted in the state's culture. For decades, the fans of the state throng the stadiums, stick to their TV screens and dive into the euphoria of the beautiful sport.

With the Super League Kerala set to enter its third season, the organisers feel that the league has all that it takes to further transcend the emotions of the fans and fuel the love more.

Speaking exclusively to IANS, the league's CEO and Director Mathew Joseph detailed how the SLK has been working "365 days" for a tournament which is only two and a half months long and how they have been working behind the scenes for the success that glares on the screens.

The league has caught the eyeballs after the first two seasons, and with the deeply rooted culture of football in Kerala, it only promises to get better and better. "We finished season 1 in 2024 and then season 2 last year. And the jump between the first season and the second was huge in terms of the spectators as well as in terms of all the participants and the aspirants to actually be a part of this league. So we could see that huge level of interest which came in," Mathew told IANS.

"Now we've been constantly putting in a lot of efforts on the grassroots as well as on the other side, putting up reasonably good games. We are trying to bring in a good quality of game here, wherein our local talent also gets a chance," he added.

The league might run for two and a half months, but Mathew highlighted that the work behind the tournament and scouting remains a 365-day thing. He revealed how the league introduced a grassroots programme called the "Game Changer Project" and a special tie-up with Spanish legend and former footballer Andres Iniesta in the scouting work.

"And that (finding grassroots players) doesn't just come by holding the league, because our intervention into society and the people and the players is 365 days. So, I don't know if you're aware of it, we do close to about 2000 matches in a year, you know, which is not a small number.

"I think we are one state which can proudly say that we are engaged with the people 365 days a year. We just don't do a league and disappear and then come back for three or four months.

The work goes much beyond the tournament and extends to holding matches at small levels to find more talent, Mathew emphasised. "So we do close to about 2000 odd matches, okay, which also includes about 200 matches of Kerala Premier League, which is also another property which we hold. Apart from that, the university-level matches, the college-level matches. So a lot of that happens.

"We do scouting round the year with all these tournaments that happen. And we have a structured scouting, which is called the programme game changer. So we started with Andres Iniesta, who is one of the world's well-known footballers, a Spanish player who played in the World Cup twice. So, we tied up with Iniesta, and we had the first session (Game Changer project) with him. And with those learnings, we've rolled out the project Game Changer for the next two years."

Following their collaboration with Iniesta, the League is also taking inputs from the German football association, the DFB.

"And (from) second year onwards, we have rolled out our own programme taking into account all the best practises. Also taking inputs from the German Football Association because we are tied up with DFB," he added.

Meanwhile, the League Director also stated that the league is setting up a Centre of Excellence, through which hundreds of talents will be trained.

"Each of our club has been involved in academies. And Super League Kerala is also setting up a Centre of Excellence, where in about 200 talents every year will be taken into the Centre of Excellence. And from there on, we give them further training with the residential academics mixed together.

The League has six teams with matches taking place at home and away bases before the semifinals kick in. This time, however, the league has brought in a couple of notable changes that might fascinate the fans even more.

One is to hold penalty shootouts for even tied group stage games to break the deadlocks, and the other is two-legged semifinals, at home and away bases, similar to what is seen in the Champions League knockouts.

"So, this year, what we are looking at is a penalty shootout. And at the end of the (league) game, there will be a definitive winner.

"So, that is rule number one, which we are implementing. This is accepted by FIFA and the All India Football Federation. We have taken the approvals for that. So, I think for the first time in the country, we will have a league which has implemented a penalty shootout at the end of the match.

"We are also going to have a home and away, leg 1 and leg 2 of the semifinals. So, that is the first time we are introducing this thing. So, earlier we had two semifinals and the final. This year, what we are doing is there will be the first leg of the semifinal. And the same team will go and play against the opposite team on their home turf. So, they get two chances," Mathew said.

But with the changes, there should be another important addition to the target, and that is to expand the teams. Mathew said that they are in the process of adding teams, but want a team from a region which has a stadium of decent capacity to enthral the fans and give them matches to watch.

"Yes, we are currently in the process of talking to two more teams. We should have two new teams introduced by next year. We were trying to do it this year. But the infrastructure requirements will not be met. So that we have a decent enough stadium," he said.

The seating capacities in the current stadium are over 15,000 at every venue, with the "Calicut Stadium holding 40,000 people". Mathew said that they would want a team which has a stadium size of at least 15,000 and are open to have only one team if the other does not meet the criteria.

"So, we are looking at two teams which will have a stadium size of at least 15,000 plus. Because otherwise it becomes small for us to host a game. So, by next year we will have two teams.

"(But) If we are able to do one team, one good venue, we will go for one. Because we don't want to have a team without a home stadium. That is a must. That is mandatory for a team. Otherwise, there is no fun for the home fans," he added.

Mathew also provided a roadmap for the future of the league, stating that they have a 10-year roadmap and if all pieces fall into place, then "there is no limit" to the growth. "We have made a 10-year plan roadmap, and things really look good with the support of the government and the federation.

"So, I am assuming that the government supports it, which the Kerala government has always been very supportive of, and even with the new government coming in, they have come up with many plans to support and take this thing quite forward. So, I see that there is a huge amount of interest anyways in Kerala.

"And if we are able to put all the pieces together in a structured manner, I think there is no limit to it. And one good thing is that we have never treated this as a regional league. We have always looked at it from a nation's point of view."

He highlighted that they always intend to cater to Indian fans all around the world, with broadcasting across lengths and breadths available.

"That is the reason why we have always worked with a national broadcasting channel like Star Sports or Hotstar in year one. We worked with Doordarshan, Sony, and Etisalat in the UAE.

"This year we are with Unite 8 and Zee, which are again the World Cup hosting channels. So, we have looked at this as a thing which the whole country can actually look at," he said.

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