Current Affairs - Football

Bengaluru won their first-ever Durand Cup by defeating the debutants – Mumbai City by 2–1.

• The final match took place at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata.
• The 131^st edition of Durand Cup, the oldest football tournament in Asia, and also the first edition since it got recognised by Asian Football Confederation was held in three venues - West Bengal, Assam and Manipur.
• Goa was the defending champion, having defeated Mohammedan in the 2021 final, but this time they couldn't progress beyond the group stage.

Major Awards

• Golden Glove (Best Goalkeeper): Antonio Dylan (Odisha)
• Golden Boot (Top Goal Scorer): Lallianzuala Chhangte (Mumbai City)
• Golden Ball (Best Player): Greg Stewart (Mumbai City)

India has won the SAFF U-17 Championship (4^th title), defeating Nepal in the Final at the Racecourse International Stadium, in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

• India was the defending champion. They have won previous season title by beating Nepal in 2019.
• India’s captain Vanlalpeka Guite was named the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament, while goalkeeper Sahil won the Best Goalkeeper awards.

The 71st Senior National Basketball Championship for Men & Women was organized at Nehru Stadium, Chennai by Basketball Federation of India in association with Tamil Nadu Basketball Association from 3rd - 10th April 2022.

Champions

Men’s: Tamil Nadu beat Punjab to win the men’s title.

Women’s: Indian Railways team won the title after defeating Telangana.

The Best FIFA Football Awards™ 2021 ceremony, held as a virtual TV show from the Home of FIFA in Zurich, Switzerland.

• It crowned Alexia Putellas (Spain) and Robert Lewandowski (Poland) , as the outstanding players in women’s and men’s football respectively.
• Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski beat Lionel Messi and Mohamed Salah to win the award.
• Tottenham's Erik Lamela won the Puskas Prize for his goal against Arsenal, which was an audacious rabona (a technique of kicking the football where the kicking leg is crossed behind the back of the standing leg).

List of Winners

• The Best FIFA Men's Player: Robert Lewandowski (Bayern)
• The Best FIFA Men's Goalkeeper: Edouard Mendy (Chelsea)
• The Best FIFA Men's Coach: Thomas Tuchel (Chelsea)
• The Best FIFA Women's Player: Alexia Petellas (Barcelona)
• The Best FIFA Women's Goalkeeper: Chiristiane Endler (PSG)
• The Best FIFA Women's Coach: Emma Hayes (Chelsea)
• FIFA Puskas Award: Erik Lamela (Tottenham)
• FIFA Fair Play Award: Denmark national football team
• FIFA Fan Award: Denmark and Finland

Special Award to Cristiano Ronaldo

• There was a special award for Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo in recognition of his achievement in setting a new record for international goals.
• Ronaldo netted 115 times for Portugal at the time of the ceremony, which is more international goals than anyone in the history of the game.

The annual football awards ‘Ballon d'Or’ were presented by French news magazine France Football.

• Lionel Messi has won the Ballon d’Or for a seventh time.
• Cristiano Ronaldo from Portugal won this award five times and holds the record for most (17) nominations for this award.

Awards & Winners

• Ballon d’Or (Men): Lionel Messi (PSG/Argentina)
• Club of the Year: Chelsea Football Club
• Yashin Trophy for Best Goalkeeper: Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG/Italy)
• Ballon d’Or (Women): Alexia Putellas (Barcelona/Spain)
• Striker of the Year: Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich/Poland)
• Kopa Trophy for Best Young Male Player: Pedri (Barcelona/Spain)

• India won the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship for eighth time defeating Nepal 3-0 in Male.
• Indian Captain Sunil Chhetri’s goal in the final game helped him level with Lionel Messi on 80 international goals.
• This is the Indian football team’s first title victory under head coach Igor Stimac.
• The SAFF was founded in 1997, with Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. In 2000, they expanded to 7 members, adding Bhutan. In 2005, Afghanistan joined too, but they left in 2015.
• The seven-member SAFF has its headquarters at Dhaka, Bangladesh.

On 11^th October 2021, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) unveiled ‘Ibha’ as the official mascot of FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2022 – to be held in India.

About the Mascot

• Ibha, an Asiatic lioness, was unveiled on the day coinciding with the International Day of the Girl Child (11 October).
• It represents “Nari Shakti”, or women power.
• Ibha is a strong, playful and charming lioness that aims to inspire and encourage women and girls by using teamwork, resilience, kindness and empowering others.
• In addition to the meaning behind her name, which approximately translates in Khasi language as “one with good vision or judgement”, Ibha also wants to encourage girls in India and around the world to take the right decisions and reach their full potential.

• The Indian national football team remained at 105th in the world in the latest FIFA men's rankings released on 12 August 2021.
• The points gained in their last two qualifying matches for the 2022 FIFA World Cup helping them remain in position.
• India had achieved their highest-ever ranking of 94 in February 1996 while they were at their worst position of 173 in the list for March 2015.
• Belgium leads the rankings ahead of Brazil, winner of the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo. France (3rd), England (4th), Italy (5th), Argentina (6th), Spain (7th), Portugal (8th), Mexico (9th), and the USA (10th) comprise the top 10 in global rankings.
• Japan is the highest-ranked Asian team at 24 with Iran snapping at their heels at 26.

• Kolkata will host the Durand Cup - world's third oldest and Asia's oldest football tournament between 05 September to 03 October 2021, with matches being played at various venues in and around Kolkata.
• The prestigious tournament was first held in 1888, at Dagshai (Himachal Pradesh) and is named after Mortimer Durand, who was then the Foreign Secretary in charge of India.
• The tournament was a conscious way to initially maintain health and fitness amongst the British troops but was later opened to civilians and currently is one of the leading sports events in the world.
• Mohun Bagan and East Bengal are the most successful teams in the history of the Durand Cup winning it sixteen times each.
• The winning team is presented with three trophies ie the President's Cup (first presented by Dr Rajendra Prasad), the Durand Cup (the original challenge prize - a rolling trophy) and the Shimla Trophy (first presented by citizens of Shimla in 1903 and since 1965, a rolling trophy).
• The Tournament was shifted from Delhi to Kolkata in 2019.

• The AIFF Player of the Year Awards are the annual football awards presented to the best footballers in India by the All India Football Federation (AIFF).
• Sunil Chhetri (6 times) and Bala Devi (3 times) are the most awarded players in Men’s and Women’s category respectively.

Best Players 2020-21

• Men's Player of the Year: Sandesh Jhingan (Jhinghan donned the national colours for the first time in 2015 and has made 40 international appearances since, including a crucial draw against Qatar in 2019. He had also won the AIFF Emerging Player Award in 2014 as well as the Arjuna Award last year).
• Men’s Emerging Footballer of the Year: Suresh Singh Wangjam from Manipur
• Women’s Footballer of the Year: Bala Devi (She received this award for the third time, having previously won it two years in a row in 2014 and 2015. Currently playing for the Rangers Women's FC in Scotland, she remains the first Indian woman footballer to sign a professional contract in Europe.
• Women’s Emerging Footballer of the Year: Manisha Kalyan (She is a former India U-17 and U-19 international player, made her senior national team debut against Hong Kong in 2019. She also received the Emerging Player of the Tournament award at the 2019-20 Hero Indian Women's League, where she played a key role in Gokulam Kerala FC's run to the title)