Calicut FC thinking big, eyes the ISL

Calicut FC aims for I-League entry, focusing on community involvement and player development to boost Super League Kerala viewership.

It’s a high-flying team, the current chart-topper in the Super League Kerala, the first to enter the league’s semifinal and the favourite to lift the title. And clearly, Calicut FC is thinking big.

“One of our goals is to participate in the I-League, we are preparing ourselves to get the capability to reach that level. And the next goal is naturally the ISL,” said V.K. Mathews, the owner of Calicut FC, in a chat with The Hindu here on Monday.

“Essentially, how do we make football a bit more sensitised and make Calicut FC as the club for Kerala, quite similar to (Kerala) Blasters. And the major difference will be, Calicut FC will have more Kerala in it than Blasters in all aspects.”

The club has aggressive plans, and if all the formalities are met, would like to be in the I-League by next year. The club, which has Kozhikode’s EMS Corporation Stadium as its home ground, is planning to improve its training facilities.

“Next year, we will have our own training ground. It will be in Kozhikode but we’ll look at Kochi as well. Getting a practice ground is not that difficult and we need to have a swimming pool and other facilities. And we must have an academy connected to it,” said Mathews.

Mathews feels that it will take a few years for SLK clubs to break even.

“The franchise budget for a SLK club is somewhat the same level as the I-League. I don’t think (SLK) clubs will break even in the first three years. The financial success of this depends on the viewership, the viewership has to go up. For that, we have to sensitise and get more and more people interested in the Super League. One of the ways of doing it is how deeply we are involved with the community, the schools, the academies...when the boys and girls from academies come, then the viewership will go up.”