KOCHI: Indian Super League (ISL) franchise Kerala Blasters have confirmed the departure of their chief executive officer Varun Tripuraneni and announced the appointment of Viren D’Silva as the new CEO.
D’Silva comes in as the CEO from Pro Kabbadi League outfit Tamil Thailavas, which is a sister concern of Kerala Blasters, both being owned and operated by IQuest Enterprises.
The company owns the two franchises in consortium with Telugu stars Chiranjeevi and Akkineni Nagarjuna, Telugu film producer Allu Aravind, and businessman Nimmagadda Prasad.
It is pertinent to note that D’Silva is not new to the Kochi-based team. He was CEO of Blasters in 2014 and 2015.
The announcement was made through a press statement issued by the club, which read:
“We would like to announce that Varun Tripuraneni, CEO of KBFC has decided to pursue his entrepreneurial ambitions in grassroots football. We respect Varun’s wishes and have requested him to continue supporting Kerala Blasters grassroots efforts even in the future, which he has kindly accepted.
“We would also like to announce the appointment of Viren D’Silva as CEO of KBFC. Viren ably led the club in the first two seasons of ISL and was instrumental in putting together the team for the third season.
“We would like to thank Varun for his leadership of the club through extremely challenging circumstances and wish him all the best for his future endeavours. We would also like to wish Viren all the best in his new role.”
The announcement was made after Kerala Blasters’ last ISL game, which ended in a 0-0 draw with 10-man NorthEast United. The team finished a lowly ninth on the ISL table with just 15 points in 18 games.
The club fell out of contention for a spot in the playoffs in December itself and subsequently fired coach David James and appointed Nelo Vingada as the Englishman’ssuccessor.
Under Vingada, the Yellows won just one game but their showing improved despite letting go of players like Halicharan Narzary and CK Vineeth.
The team will have a fortnight’s time to prepare for their Super Cup qualifiers in Bhubaneshwar under Portuguese manager Nelo Vingada.
