GCCL First Season

The past few months at Bangalore City Football Club have been busy! Just two months after beginning practices at their own turf, Total Football Turf, the club was able to start its own football league. Garden City Champions League included over 200 players from BCFC.  Throughout the week you could find the U10, U13, and U15 batches practicing like never before in prep for the anxiously anticipated Sunday afternoon matches. The league featured nine teams for each age group - Warriors, Crocs, Tigers, Rhinos, Bears, Dragons, Pirates, Eagles, and Sharks.

The Bangalore City Football Club presents the GCCL , a grassroots youth league being held in North Bangalore. Here are a few highlights from our U10 & U13 semi-finals. Contact us for more info +91 7848008800. Join us!!

Each week the teams came together to compete against those they had been practicing with for months. The atmosphere was one that all enjoyed. Players chasing the ball, coaches loudly giving instructions, the coffee machine grinding, fans enjoying banana bread, parents cheering...what a blast! By the final week, players had recruited extra friends and family to cheer them on. In the finals U10 featured the Warriors vs. the Rhinos, U13 the Bears vs. the Eagles, and in U15 the Rhinos vs. the Dragons. By the end of the afternoon, U10 named the Rhinos the champions, U13 the Eagles and U15 the Rhinos.

The GCCL hosted by The Bangalore City Football Club witnessed some amazing finals for our U10 , U13 and U15 teams. The games went right down to the wire. See some of the action right here! Thank you to all the parents , players and coaches who made season One a great success.

Parents made new memories and friends while their players fell more in love with a sport they were already passionate about. It was a great first season for the the Garden City Champions League!

Milestone : BCFC Girls football program celebrates 1 year!

Wednesday, 2 May, the BCFC Girls’ program celebrated one year together by spending the evening watching the Bengaluru Football Club take on Aizawl Football Club at Sree Kanteerava Stadium.  This exciting match was the first professional football match that many of the girls ever got to attend. To make the night even better, the girls got to witness BFC take a 5-0 win.

This was a time for the girls to come together and reflect on their time playing with one another. In April 2017 the program was started with all of the benefits it has for the girls in mind. Girls being involved in sports has been found to help increase levels of self-esteem and self-confidence. In addition, being a part of a sports community enables girls to build friendships with those that have the same interests and passions as them.

Coach Shonalli joined the club in October and has continually pushed the girls to improve and grow as young women with the same goals in mind. As she anticipates another great year, she said, “I’m looking forward to another year of growth and cannot wait to see how the girls do as we continue to branch out and compete.” The BCFC Girls are thrilled to have spent a whole year improving in a sport they love, building a tight knit community, and most importantly, having fun together. They cannot wait to see what year two holds!

Rise and Shine

On Sunday, 22 April, the Bangalore City Football Club Lions took the field at St. Joseph’s PU College. U7, U10, U13, and U15 got a chance to come together and watch one another play against St. Joseph's School.

As some of the U7 players began their first ever football match, they were ready and excited to put all that they’re been learning in practice into a match. About the match, Coach Eliyah said, “The kids did great and I am very proud of them.” Although they didn’t win, the players did well with working as a team to play great offence. The youngest athletes representing BCFC ended their match at 4-3.

The boys playing in the U10 match were coached by Coach Brett. After the match he said, “It’s always great seeing the boys play on the field. It may not have been the results we wanted, but they played well and fought hard. Very proud!” The U10 match ended at 2-0.

Coach Bo coached the U13 and U15 matches. The U13 played great defence and were able to keep the other team from scoring, unfortunately, the other team did just as well. The match ended 0-0 for U13.

As the U15 boys took the field, the sky grew dark and the wind picked up. They played hard while they could, but their match was cut short when it began to pour. As a result of the short match, they also finished with a score of 0-0.

Although some of the matches were cut short due to weather, the BCFC Lions played with excellence and represented BCFC well while they could. This opportunity to play gave them ideas on what to work on in practice and of course made them more excited to play more matches in the future.

Fighting Cancer one goal at a time

The Bangalore City Football Club Senior Lions kicked off their long awaited season in an exciting match against Simba Sports FC. The Lions stood out not only for their talent in their Division 1 opener, but also grabbed everyone’s attention with their pink socks. These bold socks were not just a fashion statement, but part of an effort to raise awareness and support to those fighting battles with cancer. In addition to their not so conventional socks, BCFC also decided to donate Rs.1000 to the fight against cancer for every goal made by the Lions during the match.

BCFC knew going in that win or lose, they would be proud of themselves for supporting men, women, and children who are up against the toughest battles of their lives. However, they were more than excited to take the win over Simba Sports FC in this season kick off. Both teams started off strong in the fight and it showed at halftime with the score being 1-1. But with determination and effort from the team as a whole, the Lions were able to get in another goal within minutes of the game ending and then held the opponents for the remainder of the game. Winning 2-1, BCFC was able to not only win the match, but win Rs.2000 to people fighting an even tougher battle.  

Interview with Tanvie Hans

We had the awesome opportunity to have Ms. Tanvie Hans, a former professional women's football player in the English Premier League come as a guest coach to our girls practice in November! We had the opportunity to interview her afterwards and here’s what she had to say.

We first asked her how her football journey started.

Ms. Tanvie was introduced to football at the age of 7. She would play with the boys in her class and immediately knew that football was HER sport. She was fortunate that her school was one of the first schools in Delhi to introduce a girl’s team, which is where she started playing competitive football.

It was in the 11th grade when she was looking for a club to train with, that she realized that there was no coaching for girls alone. She chose to go to Jesus Mary College in Delhi because it was and continues to be one of the best teams in Delhi. She then wanted to pursue her higher studies at Exeter University in the UK, where she experienced a whole new level of football. The women she met in England were more driven and motivated for football because they had a proper infrastructure and professional coaching, unlike India. Tanvie went on to try out for the India women'a national football team and got selected to be apart of the team, however because she help a British passport, she was unable to get her spot on the team.

At this point, Tanvie took advantage of the opportunity in front of her. After finishing her studies at Exeter, she went back to India to train for a few months time and went on back to England for her trials where she got selected by Tottenham Hotspur. She played with Hotspur for two years and then one year with Fullum ladies. After her three years playing professionally, she felt like it was time to return home to India so that she could help pioneer women's football in her home.

Next, we wanted to know, in her experience, which football scene is better: Bangalore (where she stays now) or Delhi (where she grew up).

According to Tanvie, the football scene in both Delhi and Bangalore are growing at school level. In Bangalore there are more facilities to train at and it's more of a favorable climate year round, whereas Delhi has about 3 to 5 grounds totally and summers in Delhi are extreme, making it difficult to practice and train in the middle of the day.

Lastly, we wanted to know where she see’s women's football in India ten years from now.

Tanvie also mentions that the Indian Women’s National team has a higher chance of participating in the World cup compared to men IF they are guided and trained in the right direction. The women's team is ranked 56, while the men are ranking 105 according to the FIFA world ranking. Tanvie believes that women's football in India will see tremendous growth and it will look completely different than it does a decade from now. 

Ms. Tanvie believes, there is a fast growth with football among people in India. More and more opportunities are presenting themselves to the men such as the under 17 FIFA cup being held in India and the India Super League growing. Concerning women though, there is a slower growth in terms school-level tournaments, clubs, and coaching.

She says “we lack structure, the consistency that a 10-month league brings, and financial support”. She hopes to make women's football reach greater heights in the next four to five-years. This is only possible if they take advantage of the fire that has already started within India for football. The task in front of her and other women who are passionately pursuing football, is great; but by promoting women’s clubs like ours at BCFC, coaching, and training women footballer’s of the next generation in Bangalore and across India, she hopes to see much growth in women’s football in India.

Tanvie has set great standards for Indian women. She is a role model that female athletes, specifically female footballers have never had before. She hopes to encourage and inspire the next generation of Women in India to be strong, passionate, hardworking, and to never give up on their dreams no matter what society tells them. Her vision is to take Indian’s women football and all women's athletics to greater heights; we at BCFC hope to be a part of that vision and promote women’s football in India.