World Class JRD stadium gearing up to host football carnival from Dec 1
Jamshedpur, Oct 5: The Jamshedpur Football Club (JFC) is all gearing up for its maiden stint at Indian Super league (ISL). The season 4 of the football league will start on November 17 with Jamshedpur FC playing its first game against the North East United FC at Guwahati on November 18. The ‘Men of Steel’ will play their first home game against ATK on December 1.
With the team leaving for Thailand on November 11 for the pre-season training, Jamshedpur Football Club released the byline for its inaugural season in Indian Super League (ISL) as �Jam Ke Khelo�.
Sunil Bhaskaran, Vice President, Corporate Services, Tata Steel and Chairman, Tata Football Academy made the announcement along with an update about new infrastructure and facilities being readied for matches at the JRD Tata Sports Complex, home ground of Jamshedpur Football Club.
Bhaskaran formally welcomed Jamshedpur FC head Coach Steve Coppell, Assistant Coach, players, technical staff and support staff and informed that Subrata Paul and Anas Edathodika could not be present as they are busy on national duty and would join the team for the pre-season training in Thailand.
‘Jamshedpur FC will play against some of the best teams during the pre-season training and the weather in Thailand is more or less same as that of India which will also be an advantage for the players’, said Bhaskaran while addressing first press conference at renovated JRD Sports Complex on Thursday.
Talking about the JRD stadium, Bhaskaran said, the home ground of Jamshedpur FC is being revamped and upgraded as per standards of FIFA regulations, the international football governing body. The complex will also be equipped with flood lights for night matches as well as 25,000 bucket seats. Development is also underway for a Players & Match Officials Area (PMAO) a.k.a �Competition Area� adhering to world class standards. Currently, in India, similar infrastructure is only present at the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata.
‘According to ISL management the JRD stadium will be one of the top rated stadiums in the country once the renovation is done and Jamshedpur FC is the only team from the list of 10 ISL outfits to have its own stadium’, added Bhaskaran.
Commenting on the developments, Bhaskaran said, �We are very excited about the upcoming season and we are confident that the facilities for players, match officials and games at JRD Tata Sports Complex Jamshedpur will be comparable with the best around the world. This is the first time an event of such caliber will be held in the city and we will leave no stone unturned to make the occasion a momentous one”.
Members of the media from Jamshedpur as well as those from across the country and overseas are also expected to have a superior experience with a newly developed Media Room where pre and post match briefings will be held as well as a Media Center for journalists to file stories. Alongside there will be a Media Tribune corner, where media can do live coverage while watching the match. Photographers will get a dedicated area at the Field of Play (FOP) which will be adjacent to the ground. Besides these, there will be entertainment corners inside the stadium for families to engage during pre-match hours. Inside the stadium, there would be provision for live entertainment for an exhilarating audience experience.
Bhaskaran further said, ‘During my visit to England two weeks back I met with the management of top English Premier league Clubs and also watched a few matches and we are fortunate to have Steve Coppell in our side as he has a great respect and his reputation there is very high’.
He went on to say that popularity of football is increasing and with India hosting the U-17 World Cup we have a bright future ahead. We had interaction with schools and will have the participation of the students during the ISL matches and will also hold a school tournament on 7th October, Bhaskaran added.