India creates FIFA history with U-17 World Cup

Hosting the FIFA Under-17 World Cup finals was historic for India. The prestigious championship on the international football calendar has created many historic numbers for the most followed sport the world over.

The 17th edition of the FIFA U-17 World Cup will as much be remembered for the records on and off the field as for India’s hosting abilities.

After the massive turnout in Kolkata on the final day, India edged past China to become the most attended FIFA U-17 tournament ever. The record of 1,230,976 attendance set in the first FIFA U-17 finals edition in China in 1985 has taken 32 years and 16 editions to be bettered. India 2017 is the most attender FIFA Under-17 finals now.

The Indian edition has registered a historic 1,347,143 spectators with 66,684 spectators turning up at the Salt Lake Stadium on the final day. A mere 6,949 attendance was needed to break the record before the final day.

The 2011 edition in Mexico had also attracted a total of 1,002,314 spectators, becoming the third one to have more than one million attendance.

Kolkata’s love for football reciprocated in breaking this record as understandably, Salt Lake Stadium recorded the highest attendance per match. The venue logged a total of 5,42,125 spectators from 10 games, at a staggering average of 54,212 per match.

In terms of the number of spectators per match, this edition is second behind the inaugural edition in China (which was 38,469) as the number of participating teams and matches were lesser then.

The India edition of tournament also set a record for the longest distance between two venues in the event’s history. The distance between Kochi’s Jawaharlal Nehru stadium and Guwahati’s Indira Gandhi Athletic stadium is a whopping 2,431 kilometres – the highest there has ever been between two venues hosting a FIFA U 17 World Cup matches.

Amongst other records, the tournament of 52 matches’ registered record 183 goals at an average of 3.5 goals per match, highest till now for FIFA U-17 tournament. Earlier, the highest ever 172 in a single edition were scored in the UAE 2013 at a rate of 3.31 goals per game.

India creates FIFA history with U-17 World Cup

Hosting the FIFA Under-17 World Cup finals was historic for India. The prestigious championship on the international football calendar has created many historic numbers for the most followed sport the world over.

The 17th edition of the FIFA U-17 World Cup will as much be remembered for the records on and off the field as for India’s hosting abilities.

After the massive turnout in Kolkata on the final day, India edged past China to become the most attended FIFA U-17 tournament ever. The record of 1,230,976 attendance set in the first FIFA U-17 finals edition in China in 1985 has taken 32 years and 16 editions to be bettered. India 2017 is the most attender FIFA Under-17 finals now.

The Indian edition has registered a historic 1,347,143 spectators with 66,684 spectators turning up at the Salt Lake Stadium on the final day. A mere 6,949 attendance was needed to break the record before the final day.

The 2011 edition in Mexico had also attracted a total of 1,002,314 spectators, becoming the third one to have more than one million attendance.

Kolkata’s love for football reciprocated in breaking this record as understandably, Salt Lake Stadium recorded the highest attendance per match. The venue logged a total of 5,42,125 spectators from 10 games, at a staggering average of 54,212 per match.

In terms of the number of spectators per match, this edition is second behind the inaugural edition in China (which was 38,469) as the number of participating teams and matches were lesser then.

The India edition of tournament also set a record for the longest distance between two venues in the event’s history. The distance between Kochi’s Jawaharlal Nehru stadium and Guwahati’s Indira Gandhi Athletic stadium is a whopping 2,431 kilometres – the highest there has ever been between two venues hosting a FIFA U 17 World Cup matches.

Amongst other records, the tournament of 52 matches’ registered record 183 goals at an average of 3.5 goals per match, highest till now for FIFA U-17 tournament. Earlier, the highest ever 172 in a single edition were scored in the UAE 2013 at a rate of 3.31 goals per game.

Legalizing betting will generate employment, revenue: Experts

Legalizing and regulating gambling and betting will not only create employment opportunities for millions of people but would also help government earn huge revenue from the sector, experts have opined.

The experts while supporting legalization of betting to generate employment and revenue to the exchequer, also warned that the responsibility to ensure welfare and safeguard the interests of the vulnerable sections of society should be kept in mind while regularizing betting, they said.

Law Commission Chairman Balbir Singh Chauhan, speaking at the All India Gaming Summit, has said the issue of gambling and betting had to be addressed by experts from the industry and that the Law Commission would welcome their opinions and incorporate them in its report.

“As per the industry reports, regularizing and legalizing the sector will bring in revenue and employment. But responsibility of ensuring welfare and safeguarding the interests of the vulnerable sections of society should be kept in mind while regularizing betting and gaming,” a statement quoted Chauhan as saying.

The summit organised by All India Gaming Federation addressed topics such as ills of the present system, issues and challenges and self-regulation in skill gaming.

Rajya Sabha Member and senior advocate of the Supreme Court K.T.S. Tulsi said if betting was legalized and regulated, it would provide direct employment to 5,70,000 people and indirect employment to millions.

“Besides, the government can earn huge revenue by legalizing the sector. For example, on a turnover of Rs 1,50,000 crore, the government can earn a TDS of Rs 4,500 crore,” he said.

Sarika Bijen Patel, Commissioner of UK Gaming Commission, said that the UK’s gambling laws were very comprehensive and included both betting and gambling.

Phil Harisson, Regulator at Gaming Laboratories International (Australia), said it was impossible to restrict gambling and hence regulation was the best solution.

Olympic Summit acknowledges esports as sporting activity

he possibility of esports inclusion in Olympics has received a major boost. The one big obstacle is cleared as an Olympic Summit in Lausanne has acknowledged the legitimacy of eSports as a sporting activity.

There still are a few key issues and riders for the gaming bosses to realize their dream getting a formal nod for esports entry in Olympics as a medal sports. However, it may still happen as early as at Paris 2024.

The top functionaries of the Olympic movement, while recognising the growth of esports, discussed and deliberated on various positives about electronic gaming.

Gaming fraternity is excited about the latest development. “This was bound to happen and we are excited to see this happening very soon. Esports is the fastest growing sport and cannot be ignored. The numbers and engagement in eSports are huge. The game is rising at a rapid pace. Esports’ inclusion at the Paris Games will be a realisation of realistic goal. We are confident that this will happen. The potential, rapid growth and popularity of gaming cannot be ignored,” Lokesh Suji of the Esports Federation of India told insidesport.co.

Esports will be a medal event at the 2024 Asia Games. The members at the Lausanne Summit have asked the International Olympics Committee and the Global Association of International Sports Federations to work together in exploring the industry further.

The summit while acknowledging the growth of gaming sports has stated that “esports is showing strong growth, especially within the youth demographic across different countries, and can provide a platform for engagement with the Olympic Movement.”

The members while acknowledging E-gaming as a ‘competitive’ sport also highlighted the fact that the “players prepare and train with an intensity which may be comparable to athletes in traditional sports.”

“Esports was there as a demonstration sport this year at Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games-2017 at Ashgabat and will be there at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games. The 2022 China Asian Games will have esports as a medal discipline. For esports things are moving in the right direction and in India ESFI is already gearing up for that,” adds Suji, also the VP-South Asia for Asian Esports Federation and Founder/Chief Gamer of Indian League Gaming.

However, the IOC President would still like to force a number of changes for allowing esports to be a part Olympic moment. He was a guest at the summit. “In order to be recognized by the IOC as a sport, the content of esports must not infringe on the Olympic values,” said Bach, who in the past has been a strong opponent of egaming. “We want to promote non-discrimination, non-violence, and peace among people. This doesn’t match with video games, which are about violence, explosions and killing,” Bach had said earlier.

If Bach’s words are valued, games lime CS:GO, Call of Duty, Leagues of Legends and Overwatch may never get an Olympic recognition.

Players paid 18% less from BCCI’s broadcast rights revenue: Report

Board of Control for Cricket in India’s revenue sharing formula prescribes a 26% share to the players. However, the BCCI does not apply this to the players’ income from its major revenue source – the broadcast rights. They are effectively getting a mere 8% from the broadcast rights income.

The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators has discovered that the Indian cricketers get just about 8% of BCCI’s gross revenue as salaries and bonuses, according to a Times of India report.

The 26% revenue – earmarked for players – is meant to be split as 13% for international players, 10.6% for domestic players and the rest for women and junior cricketers.

The decision for the 26% revenue-sharing formula was arrived at after long deliberations between the board officials and two veteran cricketers Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid. The BCCI general body in 2001 had adopted to clear the resolution, which was finally put into place in 2004 by then BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya.

The report, quoting sources, reveals that BCCI doles out 70% of its gross revenue to the State Associations. The players are paid 26% of the remaining 30% of gross revenue, and not from the entire gross revenue. The amount left over is used for stadium construction, infrastructure maintenance and running of the board administration.

“The CoA has been trying to change the formula for a long time to give players more, but the members are not willing. The cricketers are making a small share. The bigger problem is that the board members who are spending the 70% are unwilling to share details with the CoA. Whenever the CoA points fingers at them, they keep saying that it is their money,” ToI has quoted a top BCCI source as saying.

The revenue share formula though gives BCCI an advantage to deduct TV production cost from the media rights revenue. Of the remaining income 26% is prescribed for the players. But the board subtracts 70% after deducting the production cost and this significantly reduces the revenue pool meant for the players.

However, a senior BCCI member, talking to insidesport.co defends the BCCI decision. “The decision was taken by the general body in the best interests of the game. Money going to State associations is ultimately used in the interest of the players. BCCI might be the supreme body, but it is the State associations which run the game in the country. Think in a bigger perspective. The infrastructure and competition players need to reach the level where they become eligible for this revenue is created by the State Associations. Should we compromise with the interest of the next generation of players? Should we ignore cricket nurseries?,” said the veteran administrator, who was part of the board GM to determine the revenue sharing.

CoA’s hands are tied because the decision to dole out cricketers’ salaries from the gross revenue is a general body decision and, until a BCCI special general meeting doesn’t take a call, this discrepancy cannot be rectified.

Further, till an SGM decides the payment structure, the annual contracts of players, selectors, coaches and support staff, which are renewed during the annual general body meeting, cannot be looked at, the source said. The Indian team’s contracts ran out on September 30 this year. Right now, the men in blue are playing without contracts, the report read.

When TOI reached out to top board officials, they agreed that players weren’t being paid as per the formula defined by the BCCI general body resolution. But they argued that a player like Virat Kohli can earn nearly Rs 200 crore per year from BCCI, the IPL and endorsement contracts. However, of the 100-odd Indian cricketers in the IPL, only 15 to 20 are in the crorepati club; most fall in the Rs 10 lakh and Rs 20 lakh categories. Sports business 

FIFA U-17 registers record 800,000 fans in stadiums

FIFA U-17 World Cup may not have created ripples in clocking broadcast ratings but have registered unprecedented attendance numbers in stadiums. India hosting a football world cup for the first ever time has exceeded expectations with fans attendance in the stadiums crossing 8 Lac in numbers. And the FIFA U-17 World Cup has just crossed 36-match league stage.

These numbers look more impressive when it is compared with the fans turnout at Chile during the last edition of the FIFA U-17 World Cup. According to, the tournament director, Javier Ceppi,”The attendance here in Indian is already double of what was recorded at the end of the previous edition in Chile. The world cup in India has exceeded expectations in creating infrastructure and with attendance”

The average attendance per match too has broken all records. Matches featuring India drew an average attendance of 49,000 spectators in the grounds, though all matches together till league stage got average numbers of 23,000 fans per match.

“We have seen an average attendance of 23,000 in every match, which is surely going to make this World Cup one of the best-attended tournaments. The outcome of this tournament will be very positive, and will help India in hosting higher level tournaments in future,” FIFA has stated in a press release.

This is the best ever average turnout per match since 1985 FIFA (Under 16) World Cup in China.

Star Sports backs Kohli’s ‘Believe’ in his ‘Mission’

The blue brigade of the Indian cricket team is aiming for the unique distinction of achieving number one status in all three formats of the game. At the centre stage of this ‘Mission #1’ is the captain- Virat Kohli, who is being backed by the broadcaster for the ongoing exciting home season.

The broadcaster has recently launched a film to promote the ongoing cricket season that includes team India recently concluded series against Australia, followed by New Zealand and Sri Lanka later in the year.

Star has captured in its new film captain Kohli on a mission to take the Indian Cricket team to the top spot in all 3 formats this home season. The skipper showcases his determination and perseverance in the pursuit of excellence. One of the most sought-after global sportspersons, Kohli’s discipline, relentlessness and unmatched drive has made him the leading ODI and T20I batsman in the world and an inspiration for legions of young fans in India.

The film takes the audiences through a day in the life of Virat Kohli, portraying his never-say-die attitude. It begins with Kohli waking up at the crack of dawn, driven by a commitment to his goals. His day begins at the gym, as he works out to stay focused and fit, and always aiming to better his last best performance. At the practice pitch, Kohli is seen hard at work honing his batting prowess, as the film calls-out his cricketing achievements. “When you’re ready to expend every ounce of your energy, all you need to do is Believe,” says Kohli, as the film concludes.

A Star India spokesperson said, “We, at Star Sports, constantly strive to raise the bar when it comes to showcasing world-class cricket, and bringing fans closer to the sport and its heroes. Virat Kohli embodies a commitment towards sport and fitness, which is evident in his relentless pursuit of excellence. Under his dynamic leadership, Team India is looking to dominate world cricket across all formats. We are confident that cricket fans across the country will join to cheer the men in blue as they reach their true potential in this exciting home season.”

India has already climbed to the top in ODI and Test cricket but to complete the ‘Mission #1’ they need to close in on the No.1 ranking in T20Is as well. However, a 1-1 draw in the series against Australia has not helped things for Team India. They remain at No. 5 in the ICC T20 rankings.

However, the upcoming series against New Zealand and Sri Lanka can have a chance for men in blue to grab the top spot across all three formats with their current form. India-New Zealand T20I series will start off on November 1. Prior to that, the two teams will also face-off in a three-match ODI series starting October 22.

Proposal for substantial pay hike to women cricketers

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Playing first class cricket may not become economically viable for women cricketers. To the extent that they don’t end up paying from their own pocket for the pride of playing for their State. There may well be considerably lucrative revenues for donning India colours.

Cheteshwar Pujaras of men’s cricketing world may feel the financial pinch for not being picked by an Indian Premier League franchisee for being considered good enough for conventional Test cricket, but not the tamasha and razzmatazz of the rapid fire version of the game.

BCCI’s officiating treasurer Anirudh Chaudhary has mooted a proposal to address these concerns. He has also proposed to board’s financial committee to substantially raise the match fee of women’s first class cricketers, senior male cricketers, umpires, match referees and other match officials.

The recommendations will only be sent to the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators for the final nod after a clearance from the finance committee.

The recommendations propose a daily match fee INR 25,000 and INR 12,500 for senior male and female cricketers for the domestic first class matches. If cleared, this will mean the senior male cricketers playing Ranji, Duleep, Deodhar and other national championship will get an increase of INR 15,000 over the INR 10,000 they presently receive for each match day. The women cricketers, who are at presently paid INR 3,500 per match day, will be getting a hike of INR 9,000.

Suggestion is also made to address the calls for better payment structure for the women cricketers representing India. The BCCI treasurer has proposed INR 50 lakh each in annual retainer ship for the top four women players in Grade A. The proposal for the next six players in Grade B is INR 30 lakh each per annum, and INR 15 lakh per annum for the 10 players in Grade C. Presently, the women players are getting an annual retainership of INR 15 lakh and INR 10 lakh each in two categories.

There is also a proposal to address the concerns of test specialists that go unsold in the IPL even as the uncapped Twenty-20 specialists pocket big amounts, Indian Express has reported quoting sources. Like a batsman of Cheteshwar Pujara’s stature and calibre went unsold in the last IPL auction and went to play English county cricket for exposure and match practice. If the proposal is approved, he stands to gain INR 2 crore as his annual retainership for the Grade A contract. An unsold player contracted in Grade A may get INR 1 crore if he doesn’t get an IPL contract.

Interestingly enough, the payment to these unsold players will have no additional burden on the BCCI balance sheet. There is proposal to create Test Player Fund. It is recommended to have a IPL fee cap for the uncapped Indian and foreign cricketers. An IPL franchise though will have the liberty of bidding for more than the prescribed limit for a player, but any bid amount over and above the limit will not go to the player. Instead, it will be sent to the Test Player Fund. This, the proposal says, will prevent youngsters from opting for the cash-rich T-20 league over First-Class cricket.

Umpires, referees and other match officials also stand to gain from the new proposals. Umpires in the Elite and ICC panels may get a daily match fee increase of INR 5,000 and get INR 20,000 per day. The BCCI panel umpires may start getting INR 15,000 daily, while match referees fee is proposed to be doubled to INR 20,000 per day. Substantial hike is also proposed for the scorers and video analysts.