9 footballers from Malabar region form backbone of Gokulam Kerala

Kolkata: I-League clubs across the length and breadth of the country have been playing their part in taking Indian football forward by promoting talented local players from their catchment areas and Gokulam Kerala FC — comprising nine players from the Malabar region — is one of the such teams.
The team from Kozhikode has been regularly promoting local players from Kerala to the I-League and as the teams fight for the 2020-21 title from within a bio-secure bubble in Kolkata, Gokulam have collated a strong contingent of players from the Malabar region, which is in north Kerala. The nine players from this region — Tahir Zaman, Emil Benny, Mohammed Rashid, CK Ubaid, Salman K, Shibil Muhammed, Mohammed Jasim, PA Ajmal, and Alex Saji — are from various villages from that region.
Defender Alex Saji has been one of the players who has come to the fore in recent times, having been at the club for two seasons so far. While he was playing for Gokulam’s Reserve side last season, the current I-League campaign saw the 20-year-old get promoted to the senior squad, where he has already made three appearances out of the five matches the club has played so far.
“I’ve had a very good experience in the I-League so far. There are so many senior players who we can learn from and foreign players as well. It’s a different experience for me and I want to learn as much as I can from them,” Alex told i-league.org Thahir Zaman, who is another product that has come out of Koduvalli, in the Malabar region, is also getting used to life in the I-League.
“The league is quite different from the football that I’ve been playing earlier. While playing for the reserves, we played with local sides with local players. Here in the I-League, though, there are players from different countries and it’s a lot harder because the quality is much higher. But we are working hard, and we want to beat them all,” said Thahir.