One of the most sought after coaches in the state, Bino George, has been named the head coach of Kerala team that will take part in the qualifying round of Santosh Trophy National Football Championship at Bengaluru in November.
T G Purushothaman will be the assistant coach. The duo have retained their positions with the Kerala team after having guided them in the qualifying round of last Santosh Trophy tournament, which was scrapped midway due to the pandemic. Though the two have jobs in two different clubs, the Kerala Football Association (KFA) officials feel that it wouldn’t be an impediment in coaching the state team.
Bino is now the head coach of Kerala United FC while Purushotham is the goalkeeping coach of Kerala Blasters. “We have picked the best men available to us for the job. Though they have jobs with two different clubs, I don’t think that would stop them from guiding the Kerala team as the fixtures don’t clash,” said P Anilkumar, KFA secretary.
Bino George said that he accepted the offer as the KFA had agreed to his demand of finishing club commitments before taking charge of the state team. “The South Zone qualifiers won’t be easy.
The pandemic has meant that our players have been robbed of quality training sessions for a long time whereas I think other teams in South Zone have started their preparations. But we have almost two months’ time. We will try to organise a camp for the players and get them ready for the tournament,” said Bino. KFA is organising the state football championship at the Maharaja’s College ground, Kochi from October 1.
The Kerala team for the Santosh Trophy camp will be picked by also monitoring the performances of the players in the state championship.
