Football Monk

The cash-rich Indian Super League has been finally granted official recognition by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), meaning there will be two national leagues in the country from 2017-18. The franchise-based league didn't have AFC recognition in its first three editions and has been trying for it for a while now. The AFC gave its consent to the All India Football Federation's proposal through a letter signed by general secretary Dato Windsor John, a top AIFF official told  PTI  on Wednesday. So, as of now, the winner of the I-league will participate in the AFC Champions League qualifiers, while the next ISL champion will be eligible for an AFC Cup qualifying slot. If the 2017-18 I-League winners fail to qualify — no Indian club has so far — they will get an automatic berth in the AFC Cup, the continent's second-tier tournament. The AFC, however, specified that the arrangement was a temporary one and required the stakeholders to come up with a long...

TRANSFER NEWS: UNITED ARE CLOSE TO SIGN MATIC Jose Mourinho has another key piece of transfer yet done. As Manchester United signs  Nemanja Matic for £35m, a reliable midfileld operator with whom Mourinho has already worked twice. Matic, who fitted from world beating holder to slow motion beanpole last season is not a player the Chelsea boss Conte desperately wants to sell but nor is he distraught  to see the 28 year old potentially leave the club. The signing of Nemanja shows that how deliberately Mourinho wants discipline in his red squad. It also asserts that this time the Portuguese wants to rely on his past weapons who can help him win .  Like us on faceboook

Although many clubs are in the fray, Liverpool may be a notch ahead of all. The relationship between 2 times ISL champions Atletico de Kolkata and Spanish giants Atletico Madrid being a bit shaky, the Indian Rojiblancos are looking for a new partner for the forthcoming season. If the partnership with Atletico Madrid really breaks, then the Indian side will surely require a partner-club, and if that really happens, Liverpool may be the club with whom ATK may tie up. Contrastingly, ATK officials deny the Liverpool tie-up talks. According to reports, ATK officials contacted with ATM officials, who in return said that they will take the final decisions on July. ATK has already received "offers" from various clubs as well, but the officials are in no hurry to come to a final decision. Other reports suggest that Luis Garcia is playing an active part in the possible tie-up with Liverpool. Luis is a Liverpool legend himself and the captain of the ATK side who won th...

Pep Guardiola aims to sting his former club by signing the Frenchman, who has been a common name in the Catalan's summer transfer spree. (The Sun) Ousmane Dembele, the teenage sensation from France, has excelled ever since he joined the German club last year from Rennes with 10 goals and 21 assists. What's more interesting is that he is brutal with both his feet, which makes him equally dangerous from both the wings. Dortmund is now holding a fee of 80million euros for him, a whopping 69.5million more that what they paid for the winger 12 months ago. Beating Barcelona for Dembele will be a huge coup for the City boss, but it's a risk worth taking. They would have to break their record transfer fee of 54million Euros, which they paid for Kevin De Bruyne in 2015. They must also be careful in the way they approach Dortmund, as the German Cup winners will surely try to protect their asset, which was quite evident from their director's words. When the Barcelona r...

    Antonio Conte is going to be given a £240 mil transfer war chest in order to improve his title winning squad (Sky Sports) Chelsea are planning to hand Antonio Conte a £240 mil transfer budget in order to improve his Premier League winning squad and challenge for the Champions League. With Diego Costa expected to leave in the summer along with a number of other fringe players, Chelsea will have to sign a number of players to have the necessary squad depth to challenge for four trophies next season. Tiemoue Bakayoko is expected to join from AS Monaco for a fee in the region of £35-£40 millions. He will partner N'Golo Kante in an all action midfield duo for the Blues. His arrival will however leave Nemenja Matic without a permanent spot in the first team. He is expected to leave Chelsea for Manchester United to reunite with former manager, Jose Mourinho. Romelu Lukaku has also been linked with the Blues for a summer move from Everton. He was one of...

Euro champs Portugal reached the Confederation Cup semifinal by defeating a far inferior side New Zealand comfortably with a 4-0 victory. Portugal took the lead on 33 rd minute when their all-time leading scorer Christiano Ronaldo scored from a spot kick. It was the 75 th goal by the Real star for his country. Bernardo Silva took the lead forward for Portugal four minutes later. In the 80 th minute, a solo effort by Andre Silva was enough to send the ball at the back of the New Zealand net. The extra time goal by substitute Nani got be the last nail in the coffin for New Zealand. Portugal is scheduled to play with Mexico in the final four stage. But the Ronaldo lead team will miss their eminent defender in the Semis as he picked up his second yellow card in the New Zealand match. For more like us on Facebook

As the world celebrates Leo Messi's 30th birthday, here we bring to you the top 30 facts about the greatest gift world football ever had. 1. Luis Lionel Andres Messi, or simply Leo Messi, was born in Rosario, Argentina. He shares his birthplace with the Argentine revolutionary Che Guevera. 2. Although born in Argentina, his parents are of Italian origin. His father worked at a local steel factory and also managed a local football team. 3. Messi was not healthy and nutritious in his childhood days. He had Growth Hormone deficiency. Although his parents started his treatment, they had to stop it due to financial reasons, which was $900 per month. 4. At the age of five, Messi started playing for the Grandoli, a local club managed by his father. By the time he turned eight, he was playing for Newell's Old Boys, a team which just lost a single match in the next four years after Leo joined them. 5. As mentioned earlier, Leo had growth hormone deficiency and no club was wil...

Jamil manages new frontier with EB Sign One Year contract with Red & Golds A   Mumbai brace for the red and golds as the recruit the former Maharashtra player and I-league winning coach for Aizwal FC Khalid Jamil For the upcoming season. The EB think tank wishes that the former Mahindra United midfielder will be able to curb their trophy drought. according to Jamil, joining the red and gold brigade was on was one of his long cherished dreams. "After winning the I-league with  Aizwal FC. I was seeking a new challenge. When East Bengal came calling with the offer of coaching their team, I thought it would be a challenge worth taking," said Jamil whose one-year contract is likely to fetch him Rs 55-60 lakh. "I want to reach the next level. I've had offers from a few ISL franchises. But none approached me as seriously as EB officials did" he added. Back in the late nineties, when he made India debut in 1997 as a gutsy midfielder, East Beng...

Hello, world! Football Monk is a brand new blog site where we will bring to you all the latest happenings in football, be it the magical Spanish touches or the hardcore English and German football to our very own Indian football (Yes, we are Indians) Please do follow our blog, we will also be there on other various social media platforms as well very shortly. :) Cheers!