Scores
Corona-virus 3.9 Million – Hope 1
As well as Corona-virus has done, this past week there were some signs of a momentum shift.
Even though we haven’t had any more matches, many leagues had athletes return to training, Serbia announced they would be back on May 30th and most relevantly of all: Germany announced that the Bundesliga would return next weekend (behind closed doors). Notably for us with SC Freiburg facing RB Leipzig on Saturday morning.
If that weren’t enough, I just found out that former World Player of the Year and current President of Liberia George Weah also released a song to educate his citizens about the virus. And, as a former World Music DJ, I gotta say: it’s a solid afropop bop
News & Notes
Punjab FC on the verge of Promotion?
I never fuss too much with soccer business news. But there are some transactions in India that warrant our attention.
First, India’s governing body decided, like several other shallow leagues around the world to cancel relegation and promotion for the next few years. (Note: shallow leagues is a totally made up term of mine for leagues that are relatively new and don’t have a deep well of teams, fans, or wealth leagues like India, Mexico, the US, Ghana, etc.) As fans of lower level underdogs, like Punjab and Alebrijes de Oaxaca, that stings. As fans of top tier teams who still just squeak by with minimal support, like Ross County and Minnesota United, it makes sense to protect the biggest clubs from a double financial body blow of Coronavirus and relegation.
(Times of India)
However you might feel about that decision, one clear consequence of that call was to make Punjab FC founder and co-owner Ranjit Bajaj sell his shares to co-owners “RoundGlass”. According to Bajaj, without the possibility of promotion or Asian continental competition, there was little point to staying in the professional game. He’s turning his attention to continuing the Minerva Academy, with the goal of developing World Cup champion calibre players in the next thirty years. Leaving RoundGlass to run the traditional club with an academy. (Sidenote: RoundGlass founder and CEO Gupreet “Sunny” Singh got his masters degrees in Bozeman, Montana!)
Meanwhile, the India Super League is seeking to grow to 12 teams next year. But as I-League Champions Mohun Bagan of Kolkata merge with ISL champion ATK, there’s no clear team to move up, let alone two. If you believe much of the online banter Mohun Bagan’s rival East Bengal will be joining the league soon.
The 12th team is unclear. To be a Super League team, you would need a major population center and a wealthy benefactor. The two sides that seem to best suit those goals would be the Delhi based Sudheva FC, but as a smaller and newer side, they might be better suited to the I-League. But Indian sports vloggers say that the 12th team could well be our own Punjab FC as it represents a new territory and has a growing set of resources.
(The Bridge)
To be clear: this is all conjecture at this point. The entire season may fall through. The ISL might prefer to stay at 10 teams. With East Bengal raiding rosters around the I-League including Punjab’s own Calvin Lobo, Girik Kholsa, and Dilliram Sanyasi, it’s unclear how Punjab would build up the roster to the super league calibre. So time will tell, but it’s something to look to.
Man of the Matches
With training coming back soon. It’s nice to just appreciate the fact that players missed the games as much as we did.
We don’t know which player that is precisely, but we know that we feel the same. So thanks FK Vozdovac social media. You know us even when we don’t know you.
What’s Next
Wednesday, May 13
Thursday, May 14
Friday, May 15
Saturday, May 16
9:30–RB Leipzig v SC Freiburg
YES REALLY!!! A REAL ACTUAL MATCH!!!
MacKenzie's Boot Room 