British publishing house Pan Macmillan published a book on Aizawl FC’s inspirational story of its title run in 2017 I League earlier this month.
The book titled – ‘Goals of Glory: The Amazing Story of Aizawl Football Club and its Coach’ is a tell-all-tale documentation of the inspirational story of Aizawl Football Club’s triumph from being relegated to becoming champions of the I-League in 2017
“Goals of Glory relives this most romantic story out of Indian football, from the club’s roots to its triumph on a mad night in Shillong,” wrote Sharda Ugra, who is a senior editor at ESPN.
In 2016, Aizawl Football Club was relegated to the second division of I-League and the coach of Mumbai Football Club, Khalid Jamil, was sacked. They joined forces and became champions of the league in 2017. This is one of the most fascinating turnaround stories in Indian sports.
In Goals of Glory, Neel Sinha tells us not just about this wonderful victory but also traces the evolution of the ‘beautiful game’ and its support base in Mizoram in the past four decades. The book explores the interesting coincidences which brought together the winning combination and leaves us with an inspiring story of determination, passion and grit which conquered all odds.
The first part of the book tells the story of the history of football in Mizoram from Paris in 1914 during the World War I till 2017. The second part of the book tells the story of Aizawl FC’s remarkable victory in the I-League 2017.
The fairytale success of Aizawl FC has already attracted noted Bollywood filmmaker Neeraj Pathak who has reportedly signed a contract to make a movie under the aegis of Rajnanidhi Entertainment Limited based in Mumbai.
Pathak, who was associated with films like Pardes and Apne was quoted to have said that the film with its subject (football) and the underdog theme (Aizawl FC), could do well in China, Japan and other countries if dubbed properly.
