Bhubaneshwar: There are many stars who shined in the final round of Santosh Trophy. The players are motivated by the prospect of playing in the semi-finals in Saudi Arabia and making their way to the national team and clubs.
All India Football Federation appointed Malayali coach Sathivan Balan as a scout to find players for the national team and various age groups. Apart from this, club representatives and football agents were active in Bhubaneswar.
Goa’s Muhammad Faheez, Manipur’s Navocha Singh, Karnataka’s Shajan Franklin, Punjab’s Kamaldeep Singh, Odisha’s Chandra Muduli, Prabin Tigga, Delhi’s Dhruv Sharma, Karandeep Singh, Meghalaya’s Figo Sintey, Dovanchew Carlos, Services’ Christopher Kamay, Bikash Thapa and others have performed well. Among the young Malayali actors, O.M. Asif, V. Arjun, Abdur Rahim and Vysakh Mohan are promising.
Sathivan Balan was mainly responsible for finding players for the Under-23 and 20 teams. The report based on the performance in the Santosh Trophy will be forwarded to the scouting wing of the federation.
The representatives of the I-League clubs have visited the players. Along with this there are football agents. They are in touch with top performing players.