Kerala Football Association
 |
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| Abbreviation | KFA |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1948 |
| Type | Sports |
| Purpose | Football |
| Headquarters | Kochi, Kerala, India |
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Region served
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Kerala, India |
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Official language
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Malayalam, English |
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President
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K. M. I. Mather |
| Affiliations | All India Football Federation |
| Website | www |
The Kerala Football Association (abbreviated Kerala FA) is one of the 36 Indian State Football Associations that are affiliated to the All India Football Federation. The Kerala FA administers lower tier football in the state of Kerala.
The wonderful game of football has been a passion of hundreds of thousands of Malayalees for the last several decades—much before the tiny state of Kerala was born on November 1, 1956.
Amateur clubs, popular and skilful football players from the erstwhile Malabar, the princely states of Kochi and Travancore carved a niche for themselves with their fighting qualities and brilliant craft from the 1930s to the 1960s, entertaining millions of football fans from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragode.
Teams from Karachi and Bengal besides British military teams used to participate in early football tournaments organized by dedicated football lovers in Malabar, Trvancore and in the port city of Ernakulam.
HMC Kottayam, Calicut Young Challengers, Brothers, Lucky Star, Gymkhana (Kannur), and popular clubs in Malappuram, Palakkad, Fort Kochi, Ernakulam, Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram produced well known players such as Kottayam Saleh, James Fenn and Thiruvalla Pappan (T D Varghese), Thrissur Antony, Pappu, Leiban, D’cruz, Olympians T A Rahman and O. Chandrasekharan, Chidanandan, R Balakrishnan, Petta Ravi, Moideen Kutty, goalkeeper Mustafah, Dr. Rajagopal, Thiruvalla Thomas, Balagopal, T K Chathunni, Sathyan, Jayaram, Balakrishnan,Indrabalan, Malappuram Aziz, and Ramakirshnan.
Later the headquarters of KFA was moved to Kollam after P Laxmanan Pillai was elected president and K Thankappan Honorary Secretary. KFA saw a new breed of organizers taking over the reins of KFA in the 1970s with former Mayor of Cochin A K Seshadri becoming the president.
Later past presidents such as A. K. Seshadri, T. O. Abdulla (Ernakulam), who went on to become the Vice President of All India Football Federation, and P P Laxmanan (Kannur), who later became the Hon. Secretary and Executive President of AIFF and President of Saarc Football Federation, and the present president K M I Mather steered KFA with a sense of direction, albeit there had been ups and downs too. They were ably supported by the hardworking Hon. Secretaries U P Johny (Thrissur), K Bodhanandan (Thiruvananthapuram), K. Sugunan (Kollam) and K P Sunny (Thrissur) in the past.
Now KFA has its first full-time secretary in P Anil Kumar, a former Services football player and DFB – B Licence holder, who has been appointed in accordance with the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) and AIFF statutes and guidelines.
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Wikipedia