New Delhi: The Delhi Leg of the third edition of the Mahindra Youth Football Challenge (MYFC), the country's largest Under-14 School Football Tournament, will kick off on November 2, 2012 in the capital city of Delhi, signaling the beginning of intense footballing action. With the Bangalore leg already underway, the MYFC will then travel to four more cities, before culminating with the best footballers being picked to travel and train with Celtic Football Club.
The Delhi Intra-City Round of this unique Under-14 School Football Tournament and talent hunt will feature 32 of the leading soccer playing schools from the city, who will compete amongst themselves to bag the honour of 'Champion School' of Delhi. The Delhi champions will then lock horns with five other champion schools from Bangalore, Kolkatta, Kerala (Kochi & Calicut), Mumbai and Goa in the Inter-City Finals to decide the winner of the Mahindra Youth Football Challenge. Playing in seven cities ensures that the tournament casts a wide net to identify some of the most talented junior football players in the country.
MYFC is the Mahindra Group's commitment to promote football at the grassroots level. The company has partnered with Scottish football giants, Celtic Football Club, who will take on the responsibility of training and grooming young talent, identified through this initiative. This year too MYFC has got on board 92.7 BIG FM, the country's largest FM network, with 45 radio stations across the country, as the official Radio Partner for this edition of the tournament.
The MYFC initiative is being promoted and executed by leading sports management company, Procam International.
Speaking on the eve of the launch of the Delhi Leg of third edition of MYFC, Mufaddal Choonia, Dy. General Manager, Corporate Strategy, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. said, "We are excited to announce the third season of the Mahindra Youth Football Challenge. The previous two seasons have been highly successful in developing talent at the grassroots level and giving young boys an opportunity to play football in a professionally managed environment and train with Celtic Football Club, which is one the leading football clubs in the world. The MYFC embodies our Rise philosophy perfectly."
Commenting on the third edition of this top-class event that will be played in seven cities, Vivek B. Singh, Jt. Managing Director of Procam International, said, "It is indeed a pleasure to be associated with a project that involves such reputed entities as Mahindra and Celtic FC. Procam International is committed to giving India's junior footballers a professional playing experience, enabling them to focus completely on the task on hand, which is to play good football."
Speaking on their association with the event, Pankaj Vassal, Regional Business Head, West and East, 92.7 BIG FM said, “It has been our endeavor at 92.7 BIG FM to reach and entertain audiences across the length and breadth of the country, impacting lives positively and we remain committed to doing that through all our initiatives. We are pleased to be associated with MYFC, which has been institutionalised to offer a platform to young footballers, who can be groomed to become specialists in the sport.”
The Delhi leg of the MYFC is being conducted by the Cricket & Sports Association of Delhi. The matches will be played at the Ganga International School.
Among the top 32 schools invited to participate in the championships are major names that include CRPF Rohini, Sanskriti HS, Modern School Barakhamba Road, St. Xavier’s HS, Bal Bhavan Public School and DPS R. K. Puram, to a name a few.
The second Inter-City Challenge of the Mahindra Youth Football Challenge was won by Pandua S.B.S High School, Kolkata, making it two in a row for Kolkata schools, while Central Reserve Police Force High School, Delhi finished runner-up.
A CHANCE TO LEARN FROM THE BEST: The winning schools from the six cities and their coaches will benefit from a four-day coaching camp to be conducted by a panel of visiting coaches from Celtic Football Club before the Inter-City Challenge. The same panel will then shortlist 22 to 24 players from the Inter-City Challenge who will undergo an intensive four-day coaching clinic, where two to four of the best players will be picked to travel to Scotland and Celtic Football Club for further intensive training.
The ten-day intensive coaching camp in Glasgow with Celtic Football Club will involve individual technique training, multiple sessions of Sports Science Testing, learning the right warm up techniques with the under-17 team, and daily coaching sessions with the Celtic Under-15 team. There will also be opportunities to watch Scottish Premier League Games at Celtic Park involving Celtic FC.
Celtic's Chief Executive, Peter Lawwell added, "Celtic Football Club is delighted to continue its involvement with the Mahindra Youth Football Challenge for a 3rd consecutive year. We have been impressed with the standard of player and look forward to, once again, hosting this year's winners at our Youth Academy as they learn what it takes to become a professional football player. We are very much looking forward to this year’s event and will do all we can to ensure that the Mahindra Youth Football Challenge continues to grow as the top youth football event in India."
AWARDS AND ACCOLADES: There is plenty to play for in the Intra-City stage, with the winners from each city getting Rs. 30,000, the runners-up team, Rs. 20,000 and the 3rd placed winner Rs. 15,000. The teams that reach the last eight stages will be provided with kits, while the winners and runners-up teams will be awarded trophies with each player from these teams getting a kit bag. Similarly, there will be a 'Star Performer of the Game' trophy for each match from the quarter-final stage and 'Best Player of the Tournament' Trophy to be won.
Going ahead, the champion school of the Mahindra Youth Football Challenge will receive a cash prize of Rs 50,000, along with the winner's trophy, while the runner-up team will win a cash prize of Rs 30,000 and a trophy. There will also be awards such as 'Star Performer of the Game' and individual appreciation trophies for the 'Best Striker', 'Best Mid-fielder', 'Best Defender' and 'Best Goalkeeper'.
Each player from the six teams in the Inter-City League will be given two sets of kit (Jersey, Shorts & Stockings), while travelling, out of pocket expenses during the travel, and lodging & boarding of all the six schools will be taken care of by MYFC.
By Indian Sports News Network