Football king Calicut takes home Super League Kerala crown

Calicut FC wins Super League Kerala final at Corporation Stadium, reviving city's football glory with 36,000 fans.

It looked like a night from the glorious past. The night also offered hope for the future.

The Corporation Stadium was brimming over with football fans, some 36,000 of them. They made plenty of noise; they had a good reason, too. Calicut FC, the host, emerged as the champion in the inaugural edition of the Super League Kerala, beating Forca Kochi 2-1 in the final on Sunday.

This city is known for its love of football, but the affair, it seemed, had cooled off quite a bit over the last several years. On this memorable night, however, men like I.M. Vijayan, the former India captain who was at the stadium where he scored one of his most memorable goals, would have been reminded of the glory days of Kozhikode football.

The final matched the occasion, too. And Calicut, which had finished on top of the league table, was the deserving winner.

The opening goal came in the 15th minute, with Thoi Singh, a serial winner of trophies in Indian football, giving the perfect finishing off a swift move down the left by John Kennedy. The Brazilian charged into the box after receiving a through ball and gave a superb pass to Thoi, right in front of the box.

The second goal came after the interval, off a free-kick, with Kervens Belfort chesting down the ball and slamming into the net. That virtually settled the issue, and Dorielton’s goal in injury-time was, of course, a bit too late.

Not everything that happened reflected the city’s football tradition, though. In one of the most bizarre incidents you could imagine, a fan broke into the field and took a selfie with Belfort shortly after he scored. That would have looked more probable from seven-a-side football, which is so popular in neighbouring Malappuram.