This story is from October 21, 2016

Prasanta Banerjee to be coach of WB football academy

Former India captain Prasanta Banerjee will be the new coach of the West Bengal government-sponsored football academy.
Prasanta Banerjee to be coach of WB football academy
KOLKATA: Former India captain Prasanta Banerjee will be the new coach of the West Bengal government-sponsored football academy.
Banerjee, who has an AFC 'A' coaching license, is expected to take charge of the academy, which is housed at the Vidyasagar Stadium at Khardah, on the northern fringes of the city, from the first week of next month.
The decision of giving the former India midfielder the charge of the state football academy was taken in a state sports council meeting on Thursday, chaired by sports minister Aroop Biswas.
Banerjee will replace Goutam Sarkar, another former India international, at the post.
Sarkar had been in charge of the academy since its inception two years ago. However, he has now been made as the academy's new technical director.
Former India goalkeeper Debashish Mukherjee is the frontrunner to take up the goalkeeping coach's job at the academy.
The academy was inaugurated in June in 2014 amid much fanfare and high hopes but the state sports council is learnt to have been unhappy with its progress under Sarkar's tutelage.
Many with the knowledge of affairs at the academy had earlier said that an overhaul was long overdue.
Banerjee insisted that his priority at the academy would be to "unearth and groom" a set of young players for Bengal football. "I'm also planning to take part in a number of age-group tournaments with the academy boys," he said.
The state sports council has also decided to bring five former footballers on board of the academy's management committee. They are Shyam Thapa, Manas Bhattacharya, Bidesh Bose, Satyajit Chatterjee and Dipendu Biswas.
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