Nagaland: WSSA football match featuring Bhaichung Bhutia, Renedy Singh on March 11

Our Reporter

Dimapur, March 1 (EMN): Western Sumi Sports Association (WSSA) will be organising an exhibition football match between United Sikkim FC featuring Bhaichung Bhutia and Renedy Singh against Western Sümi Sports Association 11 in solidarity and support of grassroots football in the state.

The event, powered by Atoqa Tea factory (North East Brews Nagaland Premium Tea), YouthNet, while the event will be managed by Musik-A Events, will be held on March 11, from 2 pm onwards at DDSC stadium Dimapur.

The exhibition football match ‘Match for a Cause’ will be followed by performances by Alobo Naga, Dreamz Unlimited, Zuchobeni Thungoe and NK Naga.

This was informed during a press conference by the organisers held at Herbs & Spice restaurant near DC Court Junction Dimapur on March 1.

At the press conference, Director of Musik-A Events, Aloba Naga informed that their vision of teaming up with the former Indian national football captains is to select 11 football coaches and send the selected coaches to Siliguri for training under the guidance of Bhaichung Bhutia and Renedy Singh.

On returning from training, the 11 trained coaches would be sent to provide training to young players in clustered targeted villages in Nagaland with a vision to form an under-14 football team so that young footballers would get a chance to play in the professional league in the near future.

The Director of Musik-A Events also encouraged and welcomed any entrepreneur who is interested to partner with them for the upcoming event.

The tickets for the event will be available at Nagaland Coffee, Herbs & Spices, and YouthNet priced at INR 200 (gallery) and INR 1,000 (donors). It was informed that there are only 3,000 tickets for gallery and 500 tickets for donors available for the event and advised to purchase the ticket beforehand.

During the press conference, Vice President of WSSA, Mughapu V Yeptho said that ‘football is in the DNA of the Nagas but there is a lack of platform’.

He informed that the coaches would train for six months at Siliguri, which would be sponsored by WSSA, and once they are back from the training, their task would be to train the young players thrice a week for six months.

Yeptho also acknowledged that the government of Nagaland is taking ‘bold steps’ and WSSA would also be reaching out to the government to collaborate with WSSA in the future.