Kozhikode gets a new football stadium

After the installation of the floodlights at the EMS Corporation Stadium last week and the coming of the I-League matches later this month, Kozhikode's football fanatics has yet another reason to cheer about. A new stadium, completely devoted to football, will be coming up in the district very soon!

The demand for a new stadium arose when Calicut were chosen to host the National Games 2010. All items of the Games could not be held at a single stadium – The Corporation Stadium – which left the District Sports Council searching for alternatives which ended up in the decision to build a new stadium to hold football matches.

The proposed stadium is situated at the Medical College grounds, 20 minute drive from the city, near the current pavilion. The stadium will be built before the National Games which is scheduled for May, 2010, spending about Rs. 8 crores from the fund allotted for the Games.

Members of an expert panel from Trivandrum have thrice visited the proposed site for stadium. “The schedule and tender decisions will start according to the report of the expert panel,” said KJ Mathai, President of the District Sports Council. The stadium will be owned by the Medical College based on an agreement that will be signed by the Sports Council and the Health Department.

The stadium plan will be very basic with galleries that can seat spectators on all sides and a lush green playing surface. There will also be a synthetic track around the pitch which costs around Rs. 4 crores.

Earlier, the Kozhikode District Football Association had planned to build their own stadium to host football matches. But the project went in vain even after allocating land for the stadium along the Bhatt Road.

One of the biggest problems faced by the Calicut Township is the lack of playing spaces. The condition is that even athletes find it very difficult to find grounds for their practice. This discomfort can be reduced by the new stadium.

With the renovation of the Corporation Stadium and the coming of the Medical College Stadium, soccer fans in the city which keeps the beautiful game very close to their heart, can dream of several football battles to be fought here.

Adwaidh Rajan for FootballKerala.com

From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Saturday 10 October 2009, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.