THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After putting up a valiant effort in the U-15 Youth League last year, Kovalam FC are back at it again this season being one of the four Kerala teams that will compete in the zonal rounds of U-16 Youth League next month.
And this time, they plan to go one better. “We were unlucky not to progress last year. We managed to get results against superior sides and our only defeat was to eventual champions Ozone FC,” said Ebin Rose, who coaches the group of footballers from the coastal areas of the district. The sole participants from the state in the national league last year, Kovalam has the company of three other Kerala sides this season in SEPT Football Nursery from Kozhikode, Red Star FC from Thrissur and Prodigy Football Academy from Kochi.
They will begin their campaign against SEPT on their home ground of Chandrasekharan Nair Stadium in Thriuvananthapuram in the first round of Kerala zone. The teams will play on home and away basis with the team topping the table progressing to the national finals. “We have maintained our core group of players from the last season. At the same time, some good youngsters have progressed to the squad which gives us a lot of hope of a good show,” said Ebin, a former state footballer. They have pinned their hopes on Mohammed Lamiz and Jebin Bosco to score the goals. “Other three clubs from Kerala are well supported at a time when we are looking for sponsors,” said Ebin, whose team was supported by Muthoot Pappachan Group last year. S Geevarghese will be the head coach of the team for the league while Ebin will serve as assistant.
Kovalam FC was founded in 2009 and launched their academy for coastal footballers in 2011. Their success story has seen several footballers from the economically backward coastal communities get into national limelight. Recently, Mijun Mathias, a 14-year-old from Vizhinjam, was selected to the All India Football Federation’s U-14 national football academy in Goa. Also, a Thiruvananthapuram district team, which comprised of eight players from Kovalam FC ranks, won the Kerala state inter-district championship earlier this month after a long hiatus.
