Bangalore gets a new club

South United Football Club takes wings, to be coached by Vijayan

The South United Football Club (SUFC), a professional side, has been officially launched on Thursday night. 

Former India captain Raman Vijayan, who coached KGF Academy to their maiden Super Division title earlier this year, will be the coach of the new club. “Bangalore has a history of producing great footballers of the likes of Arumainayagam and Carlton Chapman and our initiative is all about encouraging local talent and youngsters. Players who have ability unfortunately stop playing football around at the age of 14-15 years and concentrate on education, we’re looking to stop this trend,’’ Vijayan said at the press meet.

Lokknath R Char, Founder and CEO of Lokko Sports India Pvt Limited, the owner of the team, said the idea to start the club was to fill a certain vacuum in sports. “We are looking to bridge the gap between elite level sports and sport at the grassroot level,’’ Lokknath added.

SUFC has completed the formalities for getting affiliation to the Karnataka State Football Association. The decision on the club’s induction into the State league will be taken in the joint meeting of KSFA and BDFA officials scheduled to be held at a later date.  

According to Vijayan, the squad has six players from Super Division champions KGF Academy, three each from ADE and DYSS, two from Postal and two players from Punjab. “We are looking to play a tournament in Chennai next month,’’ he said.

KSFA President AR Khaleel said he was confident about the success of the club.
 “This team deserves to be in the Super Division, we have to take risks. South India has a lot of talent and we have good infrastructure as well,’’ he added.

Khaleel added it was important to identify and nurture local players. “ If you look at the I-League, we have the four foreigners policy and many teams have a foreign striker. We have to reduce the dependence on them and promote homegrown players,’’ he added.

The KSFA chief also said another professional club from Bangalore is in the offing and negotiations are underway.