A new venue will be added to the Indian Super League (ISL) when Shillong hosts NorthEast United FC's 'home' match against Mumbai City FC on Friday at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
The football loving fans of Meghalaya have been waiting for this ISL's debut match with much anticipation.
The Guwahati-based Highlanders will also host Bengaluru FC and East Bengal at the same venue in Shillong on February 21 and March 8, respectively, as the fans look forward to witness Indian football's biggest stars, including Sunil Chhetri, Lallianzuala Chhangte and Naorem Mahesh Singh in action.
NorthEast United CEO Mandar Tamhane on Tuesday shed light on how the club's move to Shillong came about.
"When we played the semi-final of the Durand Cup against Shillong Lajong here, it was an eye opener for me even though I've been involved in Indian football for over 25 years," Tamhane said.
"The online tickets were sold out in 12 minutes and there were 5km long queues for physical tickets. Fan parks in different districts were also jam-packed.
"We are a club representing eight states and we always wanted to bring football to parts of the Northeast. Seeing the response we got for the Durand Cup, reaffirmed our decision to come to Shillong this season itself," he was quoted as saying by the official ISL website.
He said the Meghalaya government extended their support to the move.
NorthEast United forward Redeem Tlang, who hails from Shillong, has been one of the ISL's notable domestic talents. With over 100 ISL appearances under his belt and having played a key role in NorthEast United's historic Durand Cup victory in 2024, Tlang is thrilled about the league's arrival in his home city.
"It's a very special moment for me personally and also for the people of Meghalaya to experience ISL matches in Shillong," he said
"ISL is the top league in the country and to have it come to your home is an incredible feeling. People all over Meghalaya love football. Football is like a religion in Shillong. It's the first game that you play when you grow up here," said Tlang who began his football journey with Shillong Lajong. P
I-League 2 team Sudeva FC launches collaboration with VfB Stuttgart for grassroots development
I-League second division team Sudeva FC on Monday launched its official collaboration with German top-tier side VfB Stuttgart to promote grassroots and youth development through high-quality training programmes and international exposure.
The partnership was launched at the presence of Sudeva FC President Anuj Gupta, VfB Stuttgart Board member Rouven Kasper and Germany's southern state Baden-Wurttemberg's Economic Affairs Minister Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut.
VfB Stuttgart, one of the oldest clubs in Germany, have won two Bundesliga titles. They finished runners-up in the last Bundesliga season (2023-24). The collaboration with Sudeva FC is their first in Asia.
Under the collaboration which is of three years initially, VfB Stuttgart's youth level coaches at Sudeva FC will visit twice a year to train the Delhi-based club's coaching staff and the residential academy players.
"This collaboration is meant for the grassroots and youth level. VfB Stuttgart youth team's top coaching staff will come to Sudeva's residential academy twice a year and they will train our coaching staff and the players," Gupta told PTI.
"They will identify the talented players from the U-13, U-15 and U-17 teams we have at our residential academy and if they (players) are good enough, they will be taken to VfB Stuttgart to train there in their academy," said Gupta who is also the president of Delhi Football.
Sudeva competed in the I-League for three consecutive seasons before being relegated to I-League 2 in 2022-23.
The actual agreement for the partnership was signed a few months back in Germany when the Sudeva FC's U-15 team participated in the MTU Cup. Monday marked the official launch of the partnership.
Asked about the reason behind the collaboration, Gupta said, "Germany is a country which is among the best in the world in terms of grassroots and youth development.
"I am hoping that this collaboration ultimately leads to the unearthing of at least one Indian player to play in the Bundesliga in future. I am also hoping to produce players who will play in the Indian team for the FIFA U-17 World Cup through this collaboration."
VfB Stuttgart Board member Kasper said that it was his club's first collaborative venture in Asia which he is hoping to be of mutual benefit.
"We have a collaboration with Sao Paulo FC in Brazil, but the nature of that collaboration is different. This one with Sudeva is the first in Asia. We have been engaging with Sudeva for the last three years and we found this club to be really doing very good work in grassroots and youth development.
"So, we went in for this collaboration with Sudeva. We are not here for any kind of publicity and marketing gains or leverage by collaborating with Sudeva, we want real spotting of talented players and nurturing them to high-quality footballers of future. We are also here to give professional and quality training to the coaching staff of Sudeva.
"This collaboration will initially be of three years and let us see later how it can grow and extend further in future."
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