The 64th edition of the Subroto Cup International Football Tournament will kick off on August 19, featuring 106 teams competing in three categories — Junior Boys (U-17), Junior Girls (U-17) and Sub-Junior Boys (U-15). Matches will be staged across Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru until September 25.
The announcement was made at a press event at the Akash Officer’s Mess in the national capital on Tuesday, attended by Air Marshal S Sivakumar VSM, Air Officer-in-Charge Administration and Vice Chairman of the Subroto Mukherjee Sports Education Society (SMSES), and Indian footballer Dalima Chhibber.
Organised by SMSES under the aegis of the Air Force Sports Control Board, the tournament — first held in 1960 — was named after Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee to promote grassroots football.
The Junior Girls competition will open proceedings in Delhi-NCR on August 19. The Sub-Junior Boys’ matches will be held in Bengaluru from September 2, while the Junior Boys’ tournament begins September 16 in Delhi-NCR.
Air Marshal Sivakumar said the Air Force and SMSES were committed to making the tournament “bigger and better every year” and urged players to “play in the true spirit of sportsmanship.” Chhibber, who began her journey at the Subroto Cup in 2011, called the event a platform that “gives wings” to young players and has produced many national team members.
Seven players from the tournament will be selected for advanced football training in Germany under the Indian Tiger & Tigresses campaign.
Delhi-NCR matches will be held at Ambedkar Stadium, Tejas Football Ground, Subroto Park Football Ground and Pinto Park Football Ground, while Bengaluru games will be hosted at Air Force School (Jalahalli), Air Force School (Yelahanka) and HQ Training Command Football Ground.
The participating teams will represent states, union territories, educational boards and four foreign countries. More than 200 matches will be played across the three categories. An age determination test will be conducted for the Sub-Junior Boys to ensure fair play.
TG English School, Bishnupur, Manipur (Junior Boys), Mother International School, Ranchi, Jharkhand (Junior Girls) and Nongiri Presbyterian Secondary School, Meghalaya (Sub-Junior Boys) are the defending champions.
