Real Malabar FC’s 25-year-old midfielder P.P. Mohammed Safneed, who led Calicut University to the National inter-university title two years ago, is the lone new face in the Kerala football team for the Santosh Trophy’s final phase which begins in Arunachal Pradesh on February 21.
The Kerala Football Association has made three changes to the team, which played in the National championship’s preliminary phase in Goa in October. Navas Meeran, the KFA president, announced the team here on Wednesday evening.
“We had to leave out Bijesh Balan and K. Junain who are injured and have brought in Akhil J. Chandran, Gifty Gracious and Safneed,” said Satheevan Balan, the chief coach, who guided Kerala to the Santosh Trophy title in 2018.
