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Vijayan hopes WC fever will bring funds
Former India football captain I M Vijayan hopes World Cup fever in the country will bring in enough funds for him to re-start his training academy.
- NDTVSports
- Updated: February 25, 2007 10:34 AM IST
Read Time:2 min
Thrissur :
Former India football captain I M Vijayan hopes World Cup fever in the country will bring in enough funds for him to re-start his training academy in Thrissur. Vijayan was forced to close down his five-year-old football academy last year for lack of funds. "I feel very bad that I had to close down the academy. Because now I have retired from the national team and I am not very busy either and I can give more time to the boys," said Vijayan. This football season, Vijayan hopes, will bring winds of change. Vijayan is encashing his brand name to raise money. He is also acting in Malayalam and Tamil films. That he hopes, will fetch him enough to start the academy again this year. This is not the first time that Vijayan has come unstuck because of lack of funds. In 1991, he quit Kerala Police to move to Kolkata giants Mohan Bagan, a move that was seen as the ultimate sin as Malyalis called him a cheat and a betrayer. However, a Thrissur-based company is now sponsoring his trip to Germany to see the World Cup. "I have not seen Pele playing live but I have seen Maradona live during the World Cup. I am a blind fan of Maradona," he said. Vijayan added that football clubs needed to encourage local talent, especially frontline strikers instead of blindly hiring foreign players to ensure their side wins.Topics mentioned in this article
Football Bayern Munchen
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