Coimbatore lads represent state at football league in Russia

COIMBATORE: Three city boys represented the Tamil Nadu team at the Continental Football League (CFL) held in Moscow in May.


K Kirpua Sankar, 20, a third-year civil engineering student in a city college, K Mohan Prabhu, 22, a second-year computer science engineering student in another city college and Roshan, a Class XII student in a city school, who were part of the eight-member state team, said this was the first time a team from south India participated in the league.

“Two teams from north India had participated in the league in the previous years. This is the first time a team from Tamil Nadu participated in the league,” said Sankar. “A total of 64 teams participated in the league. The teams would be reduced to 31 in the second round and so on till two teams fight each other in the last round.”

The league is conducted in the format of mini football, where each team has only eight players. “The first round was held like a league match where a team had to play four matches. Though we got eliminated in the first round, we got to know how international matches are played,” Sankar said.

The players had represented the state at a national-level match held in Mumbai in March, said Prabhu. “As this was the first time we faced international players, we were a bit unprepared. Their physique and methods were better than ours. This has inspired us to develop ourselves for future matches.”

The players are looking for sponsorships to attend the Continental Football League.