PIFA Sports FC squad announced for AIFF 2nd Division league

by Prajkta Tagelly March 24, 2015

PIFA Sports is a Mumbai based academy that developed teams in various age categories that play the National tournaments such as the U15 AIFF MUPC, U19 I league and the AIFF 2nd Division league.

The academy runs over 15 training centers all over Mumbai for local children as well as a year long Elite program for the serious young players. Players are also taken abroad for camps and tournaments every year.

This will be PIFA Sports 5th appearance in the 2nd division, The team consisting primarily of home grown players from the academy and Colaba community. The average age of this side is 22.5 years. The team had to recruit 6 new players in the last transfer window as some of the boys have college exams during the tournament.

The team is currently in 2nd place in the Mumbai District Football Associations (MDFA) Elite Division, just behind I league club Mumbai FC.

The team is coached by Nirvan Shah (UEFA B), who is also the co-promoter of the Club. He is assisted by Zakir Hussain, manager Sudhakar Rane and team physio Ashis Panda.

Coach Nirvan Shah feels that “the team has a very good chance this year but being out for 45 days in an alien environment and a taxing schedule could take its toll on the players, it will be our biggest challenge to keep the players motivated and fit.”

The team list is as below :
Goalkeepers :James Swamy, Pritam Jadhav, Kishor Nair, Rahul Yadav

Defenders : Roshan Karmaran, Sujit Pandey, Pramod Pandey, Ajil D’Almeida, Jaydeep Panarkar, Agyemang Opoku (Ghana), Pushkar Banger, Bharat Thapa, Hemant Patil, Yogesh Rawat

Midfielders : Shadab Shaikh, Pranay Daniell, Ganesh Kamath, Lester Creado, Dashyanng Kachru, Raunakjay Killinger, Arvind Kanojiya, Sumit Sarkar, Yarmipei Shangh, Neel Shah

Forwards : Arjun Mehra, Ozowara Elvis (Nigerian), Deep Moorjani, Zeeshan Shaikh, Mithilesh Patil, Sandesh Gadkari