MK Sporting Club brings Alappuzha to the KPL table with a strong North East flavour

The club has Manipur’s Milan Koijam as its chairman and carries his name

While he was working from home around a year ago, S. Akshaynand’s thoughts often strayed to football. The young engineer, who was with Byju’s earlier, had laid two artificial turfs in Alappuzha and had even bought an inactive football club there.

Alappuzha does not have much of a tradition in football and Akshaynand wondered how he could change that.

Around that time, Manipur’s Milan Koijam Meetei, a former junior India camper and a talent scout who frequently supplied quality Northeast players to Kerala clubs, was observing the Kerala scene closely.

“Milan realised that there were a lot of northeast players coming here, so he thought of starting a club. We met through a common friend and that’s how Alappuzha’s Milan Koijam Sporting Club was born,” said Akshaynand, the MK’s managing director, in a chat with The Hindu on Thursday.

With Imphal’s Milan Koijam picking up a major stake and pumping in much of the funds, the club carries his name. He is its chairman too while former KFA vice-president Vijaykumar is the club’s patron.

On Saturday, a team from Alappuzha will make its Kerala Premier League debut with the MK Club coming in as a corporate entry. And it will come with a strong Northeast flavour.

“There are six players from Manipur and one each from Sikkim and Assam. Half our team could be from outside Kerala,” said Akshaynand, an AFC D-licence coach who is more into football management now.