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Stage set for fourth National Football League

Winner of the first edition, a new-look JCT (Phagwara) have an opportunity to prove its mettle in the inaugural match of the Coca Cola fourth National Football League when they face Durand Cup champions Salgaocar (Goa) in Delhi tomorrow.

Salgaocar have an enviable record of having won five tournaments including the recently-concluded Durand Cup and the Super Cup and has emerged as the leading football club in the country. They also won last year's National League, the Rovers Cup and the Goa league. They drubbed Calcutta giants East Bengal and Mohun Bagan and other prominent clubs in course of their victory march.

The club boasts of having the best players in the country. They have both agility as well as speed and sound strategy. They prefer playing the 4-4-3 combination as was evident in the Durand Cup. Their forward line-up of Brazilian Joao Santos, Alvito D'Cunha and Dharamjit Singh is both vibrant and lethal. This combination has worked wonders, which has enabled the club to win five tournaments.

In fact, Santos alone rattled the Mohun Bagan defence in the semi-finals and the East Bengal defence in the final. He has an insatiable thirst for goals and possesses excellent dribbling skills.

Salgaocar coach Shabbir Ali, who prefers to maintain a low profile, remained tight-lipped about any strategy for tomorrow's match. All he said was that his team would give his best and strive to win. He refused call JCT as a weak team. "No team is weak. It could be anybody's day. All my boys will do is to play and win the match,'' he said.

JCT coach Sukhwinder Singh, who also happens to be the national coach, also preferred to be tight-lipped and refused to comment on the outcome of the tomorrow's match. All he had to say was that tomorrow's match will decide which side is the better.

Meanwhile, it was disclosed today that this fourth edition, to be sponsored by Coca Cola, will carry total prize-money of Rs 15 million. Prime Minister Atal Behari will open the tournament.

Talking to newspersons in Delhi today, All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi said this time the first six of the 12 participating teams will get the cash prizes.

He said the team winning the title will receive Rs 40 lakh, runner-up Rs 22 lakh, third placer Rs 16 lakh, the other three teams Rs 9 lakh, Rs 5 lakh and Rs 3 lakh respectively.

The team winning the fair play trophy will get Rs 2.5 lakh, while the top scorer of the league will receive Rs one lakh.

He also said that there will be prizes for the best goalkeeper, defender, midfielder and forward. The prizes for these players will be decided later.

The AIFF chief said no last minute change of venue will be allowed and in case of a unavoidable situation, the local league committee will decide on the change of venue.

Chairman of the National League committee Alberto Colaco, who also addressed the press conference, said that in all 132 matches will be played in the league, 60 of which will be telecast live.

He said each team will be allowed to register 20 players and they can add seven more before the last two rounds. He also disclosed that each club can have five foreign players but only four will be allowed to play at a time.

The second division National League in which 18 teams will take part will start from February next year.

UNI