Subroto organisers to invite Pele for final

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 3

Mindful of the diminishing popularity of the age-group tournament, the Subroto Cup football tournament organisers have decided to invite Pele, the legendary Brazilian player, for the closing ceremony on October 16. According to Air Marshall BBP Sinha AVSM, the Subroto Cup organising committee is in discussion with Pele's staff to have him in India for the tournament's summit clash.

“Pele can come for the final on October 16. There are talks going on with people concerned in this regard. We will know about it in some time,” said Sinha. The Subroto Cup is organised by the Air Force Sports Control Board. The 56th edition of the tournament will be held from September 11 to October 16 and will see participation of 103 school teams from India and abroad. The international teams which have confirmed their entries are from Korea, Sweden, Brazil, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

The matches will be played in under-14 (only boys) and under-17 (both boys and girls) categories. The total prize money is Rs 23 lakh — the winners in the under-17 category would get 3.5 lakh, while the under-14 winners will take home Rs 2.5 lakh.

Launched in 1960 in memory of late Air Marshal Subroto Mukherjee, the prestigious school tournament has been grappling with lack of sponsorships and funding. Now into its sixth decade, the tournament was organised by the Durand football committee till 1994. Thereafter, the Air Force Sports Control Board has been conducting it.

An organising committee member said that Pele's presence will help publicise the tournament better and would add to its reputation as the India's oldest and most professionally organised age-group football championship. “Efforts are being made to bring Pele, but the organising committee would have to raise substantial money to get the Brazilian here,” he said. For the record, Brazilian school Colegio Estadul Santo Antonio had won the under-17 trophy last year.

For the opening ceremony on September 11, another Brazilian World Cup winner, Roberto Carlos, will be present to cheer the students. Carlos is currently the marquee player-cum-manager of Indian Super League's (ISL) team Delhi Dynamos. Dynamos have decided to join hands with Subroto Cup for promoting the game at the school level.

According to the organising committee, the Real Madrid under-17 club team also showed interest to play in the tournament, but the organisers had finalised the teams by that time. “Real Madrid approached us to field their under-17 team, but we had finalised the teams till then. We would like to accommodate them if there is any withdrawal,” Sinha said.