Rajasthan United’s dream run from just a College team to the I-League
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The Journey of Rajasthan United started from just a group of Football enthusiast putting their head in one place to put together a team of some young Engineering students of Jaipur Engineering College and Research Centre (JECRC) in the year 2014.
Kamal Saroha, the co founder of Rajasthan United never even imagined that one day a team he just put during his college days would end up being the first team from Rajasthan ever to play in the I-League.
In 2018 Saroha was asked to provide a team in the Rajasthan State Men’s League as it stood at the verge of cancellation due to shortage of one team when he called back on his acquaintances to put forward JECRC FC as a contender in 2019 State League.
“I revived some of my contacts from JECRC FC and got a few players from there. The rest we got from other parts of the state. It was bizarre. AU Rajasthan had A and B licensed coaches… I was gathering everyone only on relation,” Kamal Saroha said, quoted from The Indian Express.
“I couldn’t even afford to pay anyone but the players were more than happy to take part as long as their food and accommodation were taken care of.”
The Beginning of Rajasthan United’s Dream Run, from State League to I-League
JECRC FC began their journey in the Rajasthan Men’s State League in 2019 and shocked everyone in their very first year as they won the league and won 6 matches and lost just one topping the group table above everyone.
Due to pandemic they were not able to play in the qualifiers for I-League but that did not stop them from making them well prepared for the next season as winning the R-League boosted their morale quite high. They even changed their name from JECRC FC to Rajasthan United FC making themselves an well established team.
In 2021 they were all set to dominate the State League again but they finished in the second place just behind another great team from Rajasthan, Zinc Football Academy. Both the teams had same stats and same points almost but Zinc topped the table due to higher goal difference.
Unfortunately Zinc Football Academy was not able to meet the requirements of the All India Football Federation License because of which they were disqualified and were not allowed to participate in the Qualifiers of the I-League and Rajasthan United automatically got the chance having finished in the second place.
Rajashthan United began their preliminary round weak but had enough points on the table to make it into the final round where they found themselves dominating the table with 2 wins and 1 draw winning the I-League qualifiers and becoming the first team ever from Rajasthan to play in one of the most prestigious league in Indian Football.
“This feels like a Hollywood movie,” says Kamal Saroha, “It’s tough to describe all that’s happened,” quoted from The Indian Express.
“All this was just for fun,” Kamal Saroha says as he looks for an investor before the beginning of the new season of I-League and will be aiming to do something big alongside his fellow founders and head coach Vikrant Sharma, who has been an absolute blessing bringing the team to such a high prestigious stage.
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Raunak Bose
(485 Articles Published)