Kolkata school win Mahindra Youth Football Challenge

Kolkata's Sukantanagar Vidyaniketan have won the inaugural Mahindra Youth Football Challenge. They beat local side Government Sports High School from Bangalore 3-1 in the final of the inter-city leg of the under-14 schools tournament at the Bala Gangadharanatha Swamy International Residential School on Saturday.

Sukantanagar Vidyaniketan were impressive throughout the tournament as they won all their five group matches and then went on to win the final. The champions received a champions trophy and prize money of Rs 50,000, while the runners-up also got a trophy and prize money of Rs 30,000.

The six participating schools where - Government Sports High School (Bangalore), CRPF School (Delhi), Infant Jesus High School (Goa), Sukantanagar Vidyaniketan (Kolkata), St Joseph High School (Kozhikode), Don Bosco High School (Mumbai) - who played each other in a round robin league from Monday to Friday and the top two sides meet again on Saturday in the finals at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium.

Individual Player Awards

Man of the Match: Bishal Harijan (Sukantanagar Vidyaniketan)
Best goalkeeper: Akshai R (St Joseph High School)
Best defender: Ashish Turi (Sukantanagar Vidyaniketan)
Best midfielder: Bikash Mallick (Sukantanagar Vidyaniketan)
Best striker: Bishal Harijan (Sukantanagar Vidyaniketan)


Also present were youth coaches from Scottish giants Celtic Glasgow FC, who watched all the matches and picked 22 boys for a four day camp in Bangalore which is currently going on. The best two to four would be flown to Glasgow for up to 10 days to see Celtic in action, their facilities, train with the Academy and more.

Boys selected for Camp

Biswajit Saha, Ashish Turi, Sanjay Bauri, Amit Turi, Bikash Mallick, Samir Karmakar, Jayanto Mondal, Bishal Harijan, Nehal Ahmed, Saif Hussain, Subho Paul (all Sukantanagar Vidyaniketan, Kolkata); Michael, Mani Maran R, Anthony Rushith, Shantosh Kumar (all Government Sports High School, Bangalore); Merick Fernandes, Floyd Periera (both Don Bosco, Mumbai); Akshay R, Roy Rojas (both St. Joseph's, Kerala); Mohammed Aqib, Mukesh Kumar (both CRPF School, Delhi); Brain Rodrigues (Infant Jesus, Goa)

Mahindra Youth Football Challenge finals

The inter-city leg of the first-ever Mahindra Youth Football Challenge will kick-off later today at the Bala Gangadharanatha Swamy International Residential School in Bangalore. Six schools will play for the title of the national Mahindra Youth Football Challenge under-14 champions.

The champions would receive the champions trophy and prize money of Rs 50,000, while the runners-up would also get a trophy and prize money of Rs 30,000. Exceptional players will be honoured with awards for Star Performer of the Game, Best Striker, Best Midfielder, Best Defender and Best Goalkeeper.

The six participating schools - Government Sports High School (Bangalore), CRPF School (Delhi), Infant Jesus High School (Goa), Sukantanagar Vidyaniketan (Kolkata), St Joseph High School (Kozhikode), Don Bosco High School (Mumbai) - will play each other in a round robin league and the top two sides would meet again on Saturday, April 30 in the finals at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium.

The Mahindra Youth Football Challenge has a tie-up with Scottish giants Celtic Glasgow FC and 20 children will be selected from the national finals for a weeks clinic in India and then the two most talented kids will get a chance to visit Glasgow for a week to see Celtic in action, their facilities and more.

For this Celtic's Senior Football Development Officer Mark Reid along with Academy coaches Chris Hendry and Robert Glen are in Bangalore to have a look at the tournament to select the best players and give the schools and their coaches inputs on modern day youth football training.

Venue voes for I-League

The fourth edition of the I-league, India's Professional Football League, is set to kick-off on November 26 across India with 14 clubs taking part, but some venues will not be available for the start of the league. The Bangalore Football Stadium as well as the Cooperage Ground in Mumbai will be dug-up at the time for laying of artificial pitches under the "Win in India with India" project of world football governing body FIFA.

The two I-League venues besides Shillong and Manipur were selected as the first four cities to get an artificial turf as part of infrastructure development in Indian football sponsored by FIFA. In the second phase four to six further artificial turfs would be allotted to cities and states.

But during the time of redevelopment of these grounds and training pitches, which usually takes around three to four month's, they are off limits and that is harming the scheduling of the I-League this season.

As Mumbai has no other suitable venue to host I-League matches, the Western Indian Football Association has decided to shift matches of the three city based I-League sides to Kolhapur, which is about 400 kilometres southeast of Mumbai. Kolhapur is said to be a football crazy city with local matches drawing up to 35,000 spectators. The Chhatrapati Sahu Stadium in Kolhapur has hosted second division I-League matches in the past.

In Bangalore it is the same problem, but the Karnataka State Football Association can fall back on the much bigger Sree Kanteerava Stadium if need be, but still the KSFA has asked the AIFF and I-League committee to switch the home advantage of the four affected matches of promoted Hindustan Aeronautics Limited SC. The opening game between HAL and JCT has already been switched to Ludhiana in Punjab; while about the three other matches no decision has been made. The I-League organisers would like to want as little change of venues and dates as possible.

Meanwhile Viva Kerala themselves have decided to shift their homes matches from Calicut to Kannur. No longer will the Municipal Corporation Stadium in Calicut play home to Kerala's only I-League side, but from now on Kannur's Municipal Jawahar Floodlit Stadium. Viva Kerala has shifted its team base from Kochi to Kannur too, which in the last few years has successfully hosted the E.K. Nayanar Memorial Gold Cup.