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Big time football set to return at Cooperage

Iconic city ground, with a brand new identity, will be inaugurated today

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CM Devendra Fadnavis will inaugurate the Cooperage Stadium on Wednesday
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After almost five years of renovation work and bureaucratic issues, the Cooperage football ground in Colaba has been granted the Occupation Certificate 1(OC), and is set to be inaugurated today.

Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Salman Al-Khalifa, All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Praful Patel, will be inaugurating the stadium.

The last I-League game in Cooperage was played in 2009. The conditions of the ground at the time were poor. Seeing its pathetic state, FIFA stepped in and granted Western India Football Association (WIFA) $2.5 million to refurbish the stadium. The falling of rupee saw the cost go up by half a million. And now, the dilapidated wooden stands are replaced with a sturdy steel structure and the wooden planks that were called stands are now replace with bucket seats.

Cooperage now has a seating capacity of 5,000. The dangerous mud turf has been replaced with an artificial turf. Two warm-up pitches are also in place with proper changing rooms and drainage facilities in order.

Though important Elite Division matches of the Mumbai District Football Association (MDFA) take place at the ground, spectators aren't allowed to use the stands since the Occupation Certificate (OC) wasn't obtained.

Former India player and current coach of the Air India team, Godfrey Pereira, feels that there's going to be a football explosion. "Though it (OC) should have come earlier, it's still a huge step for football in Mumbai. Finally football lovers will get to witness the I-League, and there's nothing better than that." 

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