SoccerStar Premier League 2016-17

by Avinash Palai January 17, 2017

The 2016-17 SoccerStar Premier League took place over the weekend for last 3 months, an event hosted at SoccerStar Arena, Andheri. Temperatures soared into the mid-30’s as 40 teams from all across Mumbai battled to win the coveted trophies in what was the First Edition of SPL.

Spread in a span of 9 weekends; teams across four groups started playing in a round-robin format to decide the seedings for Sunday’s knockout stages. The knockout stages themselves provided all the typical drama of the ‘beautiful game’ with several games decided by the last minute goals or the dreaded penalty shoot-out.

Sunday Started with Blockbuster Quarterfinal one after another,

Maccabi Tel Aviv VS Celtic-Rangers, Maccabi Tel Aviv winning 4-1.
UFC VS Autonomous, UFC winning 4-2.
Awesome VS Bubble, Awesome winning in penalty shoot-out 2-1.
MYJ VS Hometown, MYJ winning 3-1.

Quarterfinal followed by Semifinal

Maccabi Tel Aviv VS Awesome, Maccabi Tel Aviv winning in penalty shoot-out 2-0.
UFC VS MYJ, MYJ winning 3-1

Here is the list of those who shared the exploits of the final day of SPL.

Winners: Maccabi Tel Aviv

Maccabi Tel Aviv Proving their status of being one of the biggest, famous and old private team in Mumbai, Maccabi Tel Aviv were too hot to handle for any team, trashing all the teams who came on their way till final and ending up winning the SPL 2016-17 after remaining undefeated in group stage. They had the best lineup and the best coach (Airest Clayton Cardoso) as well.

Runners-up: MYJ

Runners-up: MYJ

After ending as runners-up team in group stage, MYJ again ended as runner-up team as they lost 5-0 to Maccabi Tel Aviv in finals. MYJ started the tournament off strong, defeating 7 teams in the group round of play but ultimately fell short to Maccabi Tel Aviv. Losing 5-0 in finals

3rd Place: Awesome United

3^rd Place: Awesome United

Awesome were dark horse of the SPL, lost in a narrow margin to Maccabi Tel Aviv in semi-finals before defeating Bubble Fc in a hard-fought battle that ended in dramatic fashion with penalty kicks in quarterfinal. Winning second runner-up against UFC in penalty kicks.

4th Place: UFC

4^th Place: UFC

Filled with all talented Players, UFC were only team after Maccabi Tel Aviv to win all their group matches. The colaba team played some entertaining football throughout the tournament with some great comeback. Losing their first game of the tournament in Semi to MYJ following a loss against Awesome for second runners-up place.

Best Goalkeeper: Gourav Jadhav (Maccabi Tel Aviv)

Best Goalkeeper: Gourav Jadhav (Maccabi Tel Aviv)

It was a tough choice to pick the best goalkeeper of this tournament considering that some of the best goalkeepers in the MDFA were competing. We pick Gourav Jadhav as our best goalkeeper of the tournament.  Gourav seemed a better choice considering he made some brilliant saves throughout the tournament to ensure Maccabi Tel Aviv ship sailed properly.

Top scorer: Ashish Chavan (Awesome United)

Top scorer: Ashish Chavan (Awesome United)

Awesome striker Ashish Chavan scored as many as 24 goals in the tournament, with no other player near his goal tally. Such a classy and silky forward, with the cool and clinical touch to finish the tournament as top scorer. Showing his amazing eye for goal, unfortunate not to end up as a champion.

Most Valuable Player: Showkat Ali Ansari (UFC)

Most Valuable Player: Showkat Ali Ansari (UFC)

The tournament’s stand-out player, with everything: incredible pace, work rate and, of course, a clinical capacity to finish. The real power to take UFC till Semifinal. His vision and creativity made him the semi-finalists’ stand-out player.

FairPlay Team: General Mills

FairPlay Team: General Mills

In a tournament with high intensity, General Mills Team managed to play with the cleanest disciplinary record, fair competition, respect, friendship, team spirit during entire tournament. Hence were the best choice to win Fair play trophy. How much more do you need?

We now look forward to the SPL 2017-18!