Inivalappil Mani Vijayan, also known by the nickname Kalo Harin (Blackbuck), is a former professional football player who also captained the India national football team. He played as a striker, where he formed a successful attacking partnership with Bhaichung Bhutia for the India national football team in the late nineties and early 2000s. Vijayan was crowned Indian Player of the Year in 1993, 1997 and 1999, the first player to win the award multiple times. He was also awarded the Arjuna Award in 2003.
The Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium, also locally known as Kaloor Stadium, is a football stadium in Kochi, Kerala, India.Initially, it had a capacity 80,000 to 100,000 spectators, which was limited since 2017 for the Indian Super League (ISL), after it hosted 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup under FIFA security guidelines. It is the home ground of the ISL club Kerala Blasters FC. The stadium is touted to have hosted one of the loudest audiences for association football matches in the world.
FC Kochin was an Indian professional football club based in Kochi, Kerala. In the late 1990s, it was the only football club from Kerala to participate in National Football League, then top tier of Indian football league system.
SBI Kerala Football Team was a professional football club based in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala that represented and was owned by the State Bank of Travancore (SBT). It last competed in the Kerala Premier League. The club until its seizure was most successful in the Kerala Premier League history, winning the title record six times and finishing as runners-up on 5 occasions. The club has also won the National Football League Second Division twice, and became the first club from the city of Thiruvananthapuram to play in the top division of Indian football.
Football is the most popular sport in Kerala, India, followed by cricket. Kerala Blasters are the most supported football club in the state, whereas Gokulam Kerala FC derives most of its support from the Malabar region. However, larger numbers of Keralites also follow sports such as volleyball, hockey, badminton, and kabaddi. There are many stadiums across different cities. Trivandrum has various sports venues such as Trivandrum International Stadium, Jimmy George Indoor Stadium, University Stadium (Thiruvananthapuram), Chandrasekharan Nair Stadium and Central Stadium, whereas Kochi has Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium (Kochi) and Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium. An international astro turf hockey stadium is located at Kollam city. Other major stadiums are EMS Stadium in Kozhikode, Malappuram District Sports Complex Stadium in Manjeri, Kannur Indoor Stadium in Kannur, Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium in Kollam and many more. All these stadiums attest to the mass appeal of such sports among Keralites.
Jo Paul Ancheri is an Indian football coach and former player, currently working with Super League Kerala club Forca Kochi FC. He also had captained the India national football team. He was named the AIFF Player of the Year by the All India Football Federation in 1994 and 2001. He recently worked as a Malayalam commentator and pundit on Star Sports Malayalam with the leading commentator Shaiju Damodaran.
Kerala United Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Malappuram, Kerala.
Golden Threads Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Kochi, Kerala, that plays in Kerala Premier League, the top division football league in the state of Kerala. They have also played in the I-League Second Division.
Kerala Blasters Football Club, commonly referred to simply as Blasters, is an Indian professional football club based in Kochi, Kerala, that competes in the Indian Super League (ISL), the top tier of football in India. The club was established in May 2014 during the inaugural season of the ISL.
Feroz Sherif is an Indian football coach and former footballer. He played as a goalkeeper for State Bank of Travancore and India.
The 2016–17 Kerala Premier League Season was the fourth season of the Kerala Premier League. Unlike last 3 seasons, the season featured 11 teams which were divided into 2 groups with Group A having 5 and Group B having 6 teams and wes played on a home-and-away format with half of the teams being private clubs. Later Quartz SC announced its withdrawal from the league making the number of teams 10. The season kicked off on 8 April 2017. KSEB beat FC Thrissur in the finals to clinch their maiden Kerala Premier League title.
Gokulam Kerala Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Kozhikode, Kerala. Founded in 2017, the club competes in the I-League, the second tier of Indian football league system. They won the 2020–21 I-League title to become the first club from Kerala to do so, and became the first team to defend the league title in 2021–22. Gokulam is also the first and so far the only club from the state to qualify for a continental competition, AFC Cup, in 2022.
Kerala Blasters Football Club Reserves and Academy, also known as Kerala Blasters B, are the reserve team and academy of the Kochi based Indian Super League club Kerala Blasters. The reserve team of the Blasters most recently competed in the Kerala Premier League, the top division of Kerala football and the RF Development League. The club's youth system also called as KBFC Young Blasters consists of three teams, Under-17, Under-15 and Under-13 age groups that competes in their respective age divisions of the Youth League. The youth teams of the Blasters has previously played in the Elite League, the top tier of the youth football system in India.
Football Club Kerala is an Indian professional football club based in Thrissur, Kerala. The club made its debut in national level football through the I-League 2nd Division in 2017–18. They also compete in the Kerala Premier League.
The 2018–19 Kerala Premier League Season was the sixth season of the Kerala Premier League. The season featured 11 teams which was divided into 2 groups and is played on a home-and-away format. The season kicked off on 16 December 2018. Kozhikode Quartz, SBI Kerala and Trikaripur withdrawn from the league due to financial problems.
The 2019–20 Kerala Premier League Season was the seventh season of the Kerala Premier League. The season featured 10 teams which was divided into 2 groups and were played on a home-and-away format. The season kicked off on 15 December 2019. Former participants Kozhikode Quartz FC, SBI Kerala, RFC Kochi, FC Thrissur withdrew from the league due to financial problems. Meanwhile, Kannur City FC withdrew mid-way throughout the tournament due to some technical issues. Kerala Blasters FC beat Gokulam Kerala F.C. in the finals and lifted their first KPL Title.
The 2020–21 Kerala Premier League season was the eighth season of the Kerala Premier League. The season featured 12 teams which was divided into 2 groups and were played on a home-and-away format. The season was originally scheduled to start in 2020, but was postponed to 2021 due to Covid-19 Pandemic. It began on 6 March 2021 across two centralised venues in Thrissur and Kochi. This season, Kerala Football Association decided to add two more participants into the league. KSEB and BASCO were the new entrants into the league.
Thekkathara Gopalakrishnan Purushothaman, popularly known as T. G. Purushothaman, is a former Indian professional football player, who currently works as the assistant manager of the Indian Super League club Kerala Blasters.
The 2022–23 Kerala Premier League was the tenth season of the Kerala Premier League. The regular season featured 22 teams and played in multiple venues.
The 2023–24 Kerala Premier League was the eleventh season of the Kerala Premier League, which is the highest level of the State league system and fifth of the overall Indian football league system.
