Kerala Blasters FC Reserves and Academy

Kerala Blasters Reserves and Academy

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Full name	Kerala Blasters FC Reserves and Academy
Nickname(s)	Manjappada (Yellow Army) Little Tuskers Young Blasters
Founded	Reserves: 12 January 2017 (2017-01-12) Academy: 11 August 2015 (2015-08-11)
Ground	Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Ernakulam, Kerala (Primary) Maharaja's College Stadium Ernakulam, Kerala
Capacity	80,000 (Limited To 39,000 by FIFA from 2017) 15,000
Owner	Kerala Blasters FC
Chairman	Nikhil Bhardwaj
Head coach	T. G. Purushothaman (Reserves and U-18) Vacant (U-15) Vacant (U-13)
League	I-League 2nd Division (Reserves) Kerala Premier League (Reserves) Youth League (U-18) Hero Juniors League (U-15) Hero Sub Juniors League (U-13)
2019-2020 (I League 2) 2019-2020 (KPL) 2019-2020 (Youth League)	5th in group C Champions Cancelled due to COVID Pandemic
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Kerala Blasters Football Club Reserves and Academy are the reserve team and youth academy system of the Kochi based Indian Super League club Kerala Blasters. The reserve team of the Blasters competes in the I-League 2nd Division, the second division of Indian football and Kerala Premier League, the top division of Kerala football. The youth system consists of three teams, Under-18, Under-15 and Under-13 age groups that competes in the Elite League, the top tier league of youth football system in India.

Reserves

History

On 20 February 2018, it was announced by the All India Football Federation, the organising body for Indian football, that the Kerala Blasters along with six other Indian Super League sides would field a reserve team in the I-League 2nd Division, India's third division football league.

The first ever match competitive match for the reserves were against Ozone F.C on 16 March 2018 in which they suffered a defeat. But they managed to become the table toppers of Group B by winning seven games from ten matches. However as per the rules, reserve teams of the clubs were not eligible for advancing into the final round. In the same year itself, the side also started to participate in the Kerala Premier League, which is the top division league for the clubs from Kerala. During their first season in KPL, they finished the group stage in third place behind Sports Academy Tirur by one point thus missing the play-offs.

In 2018-19 ,they finished the I-League 2nd Division in third place of the group. In KPL they became the semi finalists during the 2018-19 season.

They won the 2019-2020 season of Kerala Premier League after defeating the reserve side of their rivals Gokulam Kerala FC in a Penalty shootout. In the I-League 2nd Division, they finished the season in fifth place.

In January 2021, the club appointed T. G Purushothaman as their new head coach of the reserve side, replacing Renjith TA and Shameel Chembakath.

Reserves squad

As of 18 April 2021

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK IND Sachin Suresh 3 DF IND Bijoy V 4 MF IND Zayed Bin Waled 5 DF IND Sujith V.R 6 FW IND Praful Kumar YV 8 MF IND Thockchom Beckham Singh 9 FW IND Christopher Rajkumar 10 MF IND Surag Chettri (Vice-captain) 11 MF IND Deep Saha 12 MF IND Muhammed Basith 13 FW IND Sreekkuttan V.S 14 MF IND Asif O.M 15 DF IND Amal Jacob 16 DF IND Salahudheen Adnan 18 DF IND Muhammed Jiyad C

No. Pos. Nation Player 19 FW IND Naorem Gobindash Singh 21 MF IND Nihal Sudeesh 23 MF IND Sanoop Chandran 24 DF IND Galin Joshi 31 GK IND Birendra Singh 32 DF IND Shahajas Thekkan (Captain) 42 FW IND Muhammed Aimen 43 MF IND Muhammed Azhar 66 DF IND Aritra Das 77 GK IND Aman Sahni 80 MF IND Roshan V Gigi 88 MF IND Sukham Yoihemba Meitei 99 MF IND Gotimayum Muktasana Sharma — FW IND Naorem Mahesh Singh

Statistics and records

Season-by-season

As of 18 April 2021

Note: Reserve clubs are not promoted nor allowed to play in playoffs of I-League 2nd Division

Season	I-League 2nd Division								Top Scorer
	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts	Position	Player	Goals
2017–18	10	7	0	3	25	17	21	1st (Group B)	Shaiborlang Kharpan	8
2018–19	8	2	2	4	8	13	8	3rd (Group B)	Pragyan Gogoi	3
2019–20	7	1	2	4	8	14	5	5th (Group C)	Ronaldo Oliveira	4

Season	Kerala Premier League									Top Scorer
	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts	Position	Playoffs	Player	Goals
2017–18	8	5	0	3	27	10	15	3rd (Group A)	DNQ	Shaiborlang Kharpan	8
2018–19	7	4	1	2	10	9	12	2nd (Group A)	Semi Finalists	Jithin M.S.	3
2019–20	8	3	2	3	13	10	11	2nd (Group A)	Champions	Shaiborlang Kharpan	4
2020–21	5	2	1	2	8	9	7	4th (Group B)	DNQ	Nihal Sudheesh Sreekkuttan V.S.	2

Kit manufacturers and Shirt sponsors

Period	Kit Manufacturer	Shirt Prime Sponsor
2017—2018	Admiral Sportswear	Muthoot Group
2018—2020	Six5Six
2020—	Reyaur Sports	BYJU'S

Youth and academy

The Kerala Blasters youth system known as KBFC Young Blasters currently consists of 3 teams from 3 different age groups, the Under-18, Under-15 and Under-13. The U-18 team participates in the Elite league which is the top division of youth football in India. The U-15 participates in the Hero Juniors League and the Junior most team, the U-13 plays at the Hero Sub-Juniors League respectively. The U-15 side also participates in the Kerala U-15 Academy League, a regional youth league. The young talents from the Under-18 team playing in the Elite League are promoted into the reserve team based on their performance.

History

Inception and early years: 2015–2019

In association with the Kerala Football Association, the Kerala Blasters announced the opening of 25 football schools throughout Kerala. In addition to the schools, the club announced that they would also hold weekend grassroots leagues for the children of under-10 to under-16 and the start of a residential academy in the future. The first Kerala Blasters Football School was inaugurated on 11 August 2015 at Dr. Ambedkar Stadium Kochi after 15 months which the club was founded. Later, three more schools were opened in Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode and Thrissur as a part of the club's new youth academy system. Former Irish International Terry Phelan was appointed as the head of the grassroots. In 2017, Thangboi Singto was appointed as the technical director of the youth. In the same year itself, their U-18 and U-15 teams began to participate in the Elite League and Juniors League respectively. The U-18 team became the runners up of the 2017–18 Youth League in their first ever appearance while the U-15 side managed to reach the play offs. In 2018, the U-13 side started to participate in the Sub-Juniors League.

KB Young Blasters: 2019–present

In 2019, Blasters rejuvenated their youth system. They launched the KB Young Blasters and appointed Mario Marinică as the technical director of the youth. As a part of this, a residential academy was also launched for the first time in club's history. The Blasters also announced that they will launch India's first ever goalkeeping academy in Kochi headed by John Burridge. As a part of KB Young Blasters, the club also started the Young Ambassador Program in September 2020. It focus on the promising youngsters from the club’s Young Blasters centers across Kerala to make them oriented, trained and equipped with adequate skill and technique, to be the face and voice of the club in the future.

On 16 October 2020, the Blasters announced a five-year partnership agreement with "Sporthood", which is a network of sports centres. The Young Blasters program is now termed as “Young Blasters – Sporthood Academy”, that imparts a Kerala Blasters verified performance training curriculum to kids, reviewed and audited by the club's experts from time to time. On 16 January 2021, the club announced the association of "FC Imphal City", the first academy from Manipur to play in the Hero Indian Elite League with the Young Blasters – Sporthood Academy. This was the first time that the Blasters expanded their grassroot system outside of Kerala. In February 2021, the club's senior team assistant manager Tomasz Tchórz took over as the Technical advisor/director role at the Blasters.

List of KBFC Young Ambassadors

2020

• Jovial P. Jose
• Francio J. Ambi
• Siddharth C. Basu
• Athul P. Binu

Youth Squads

Kerala Blasters U18

The Kerala Blasters Under-18 team play in the Elite League (then Youth League U18). They are also the second reserve team of the club or the Kerala Blasters C. The team's best performance came in 2018 as they finished finalists in the 2017–18 season of the league. Best performers in the side are promoted to the Kerala Blasters Reserves Squad.

Current squad

Source: Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF IND Shifas KF — DF IND Ibnu Shaharath — DF IND Muhammed Jiyad — DF IND Lalramenpuia Ralte — DF IND Abdul Badiah — DF IND Naorem Nanao — DF IND Phujam Sanathoi — DF IND Athul Ganesh

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF IND L Doungel — MF IND Yunus Shaikh — MF IND Sanoop C — MF IND Jose Praveen — MF IND Abdul Raheeb — MF IND Mohammed Azhar — MF IND Abdul Raheeb — MF IND Zayed Bin Waled — MF IND Akash Ravi — FW IND Nihal Sudeesh — GK IND Ashish Umesh

Elite Youth League U18 statistics of Kerala Blasters U18

Season	Position	Top Scorer	Goals	Notes
2017–18	Runners-up	Adharsh AS	8	First Appearance
2018–19	Playoffs	Surag Chhetri	9

Kerala Blasters U15

Kerala Blasters Under-15 side participates in the Hero Juniors League (Elite U15) and Kerala U15 Academy League. The U15 side has young kids filtered from all of Kerala and around other states of India. The Young Blasters had a tremendous run in 2018–19 season of the Elite U15 League (Juniors League) when they made it to the semi-finals of the competition. The U15 Blasters team was coached by Shameel Chembakath from the beginning. He left the team in 2020.

Current squad

Source: Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF IND Vasudev M — DF IND Mohammee Ziyad — MF IND Joshua K Denny — MF IND MK Ansari — MF IND Pranay Dhamal — MF IND Adityan A — MF IND Faris Ali — MF IND Muhammed Mahin — MF IND Al Shameem

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF IND Naeef Rahman — MF IND Muhammed Faris — FW IND Muhammed Akhthar — FW IND Lian Thangkhum — FW IND Athul K — FW IND Safar K

Hero Juniors League statistics of Kerala Blasters U15

Season	Position	Top Scorer	Goals	Notes
2017-18	Playoffs	Joshua NJ, Anandu N	3	First Appearance
2018–19	Semi-finals	Christopher Rajkumar	10

Kerala Blasters U13

The Under-13 side of Blasters Play in the Hero Sub-juniors League (Elite U13). The U-13 Side has a Promising youngsters mainly from the state of Kerala and also other parts of India selected from Kerala Blasters Summer Football Camps.

Current squad

Source: Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK IND Sharon J — GK IND Saviyol Varghese — GK IND Navaneeth MS — DF IND Harish Chandra — DF IND Muhammed Mifraah — DF IND Adam Jose — DF IND Said Hydrose — MF IND Roshan B — MF IND Shreyas Lal

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF IND Abhiram A — MF IND Jithin Reji — FW IND Abdul Akmal — FW IND Suryadas P — FW IND Nilan Shijil — FW IND Ashwarath S Nath — FW IND Athul K Chandran — FW IND Adhil Ashref

Hero Sub-Juniors League statistics of Kerala Blasters U13

Season	Position	Top Scorer	Goals	Notes
2018–19	Round 3	Lian Thangkhum	4	First Appearance

Current technical staff

As of 07 February 2021

Role	Name	Refs.
Reserves and Under 18 Head Coach	T. G. Purushothaman
Under 15 Head Coach	Vacant
Under 13 Head coach
Technical Advisor of Reserves & Grassroots Development	Tomasz Tchórz
Team Manager Reserves & U18	Hidayath Rasi
Video Analyst Reserves & U18	Sk Nasim Akhtar
Director of Goalkeeping Academy	John Burridge

Technical directors of youth

Time span	Name
2015–2016	Terry Phelan
2017–2019	Thangboi Singto
2019–2021	Mario Marinică
2021–	Tomasz Tchórz

Honours

Reserves

• Kerala Premier League

Winners (1): 2019–20

Youth

• Elite League (Youth League U18)

Error creating thumbnail: File missing Runners-up (1): 2017–18

External links

• keralablastersfc.in