ISL 2023-24 | "Durand Cup is Nonsense; VAR is MUST:" KBFC coach Ivan Vukomanović

"Durand Cup is nonsense," Kerala Balsters coach Ivan Vukomanović did not hold himself back talking about the preparation of Indian Football season. Kerala Blasters coach believes that tournaments like the Durand Cup is only good for youth development but for ISL teams; it is totally unnecessary. Along with that, Ivan wants V.A.R to be there Indian Football if Indian football wants to grow. Kerala Blasters will face East Bengal on Saturday in Kolkata.

In the pre-match press conference, Sportz Point asked Ivan about settling in the ISL and if they have everything sorted after five games, Ivan told just like other teams, they too have the issue of not being settled in the tournament yet. As per Ivan, they started their preseason in July just like many other teams, they never trained with the full squad then. Post that, Durand Cup came, and then too, they did not had the full squad too play with. Post that, they had to leave players for National team too. So, they have not been able to have the team the way they would have liked.

"Since we started our preseason in July, we never trained with the full squad, not the ones, okay. All the clubs, they receive players and they at the end sign players and the players arrive late in the preseason, at the end of at the end of preseason. It happened with us as well, like in any clubs, many clubs, so majority of clubs, 99% of clubs, they don't have full squad in Durand cup. Durand cup is unnecessary competition for all," Ivan Vukomanović said in the press-conference.

"Tt's good Cup for the youth to develop the youth. Because in that period, you don't have full squad, you cannot train properly, you have no infrastructure, it's waste of time. Okay, then when all the clubs are getting players late before the competition and the transfer window, it needs time, but then you have to start competition, so it needs time. And the teams then have to build up throughout the games, you have to find the best possible way," Ivan added.

Along with Prabir Das's suspension, Kerala Blasters are set to miss five players due to injuries. Marko Leskovic, Aibanbha Dohling, Jeakson Singh, and Jaushua Sotirio will be unavailable for the game due to injuries. Moreover, Milos Drincic will be missing the East Bengal match due to card issues.

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"Many players they suffer when they come to India, due to climate due to adaptation due to many other things then do not cup which is competition cup. It brings injuries, what happened with us, as well. So then you lose these key players. So far, in the first five games in our competition, we never played with the strongest team. So you are missing players, then during the preseason, national federation also decided to have this Windows. So then you sent five of your players to national team, you don't have a full squad for preseason. So there are many things that are disrupting your period of preparation," Ivan told while answering Sportz Point's question in the press conference.

"I suppose that many clubs from January after the break or even after Asian Cup will start playing some decent football showing something because many clubs with this format now suffering," Ivan added.

Talking about V.A.R in Indian Football, Ivan feels that having V.A.R in Indian football is necessary if Indian football wants to grow. "It'd be Now honestly, coming from Europe, okay. In the country where I live since 2015, Belgium, now it's been seven years, we are using V.A.R technology. In many countries worldwide, it's already the third generation of VR technology. So it's needed, it's necessary for the improvement of the League," Ivan told.

Not only players and league, Ivan feels the Indian referees will be beneficial because of the V.A.R technology. "It's necessary for the improvement of the League for the referees as well, because I will never have nothing personally against the referees. They're good guys, they're trying to do their best, but somehow I feel that they are not supported by the Federation and by this referee's organization, providing them the best possible technology to make their life easier and to make the league better," Ivan added.

Ivan feels that some teams are in bad positions in Indian Super League due to some decisions made by the referees which could have been bettered by V.A.R for sure.

"We see game after game that there are mistakes, there are bad decisions and many clubs are on the bad end of that, you know, you're losing points, you're losing rankings."

Due to this, Ivan is afraid that at the end, Indian football fans might lose interest to watch the game since some decisions are changing the results of the game and that might see some drop in the interest for the fans.

"At the end, what I'm afraid that maybe people from football coaching staff, medical staff, players media's fans, which will be bad, start losing interest."

"I like being here. So I wish that that happens. It will help referees to improve and it will push the league and the level of the game on a higher level and it will benefit everybody, the teams the players, the coaches, the League, the fans, everybody, it will be better so hope that it will happen soon," Ivan expressed.