According to Air Marshall BBP Sinha (AVSM), the Subroto Cup organising committee is engaged in serious discussion with Pele’s managing staff to have him in India for the tournament’s final clash.
At a time when popularity of age-group soccer tournaments have been diminishing at a fast pace in India, the organisers of the Subroto Cup tournament have decided to invite the legendary Brazilian player Pele for the closing ceremony on October 16.
According to Air Marshall BBP Sinha (AVSM), the Subroto Cup organising committee is engaged in serious discussion with Pele’s managing staff to have him in India for the tournament’s final clash.
“Pele can come for the final on October 16. There are serious talks with concerned people. We will know about it in some time,” said Sinha, vice-chairman of Subroto Mukherjee Sports Education Society.
The 56th edition of the league will be held from September 11 to October 16 and will see participation of 103 school teams from India and across the world. The matches will be played in Under-14 (boys) and Under-17 (boys and girls) categories.
Schools from Korea, Sweden, Brazil, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have confirmed their participation in the tournament.
An organising committee member said that Pele’s presence will help publicise the tournament better and would add to its reputation as India’s oldest and most professionally organised age-group football championship.
“Efforts have been made to bring Pele, but the organising committee would have to raise substantial money to bring the Brazilian legend on a short visit to India,” he said.
In the opening ceremony, on September 11, however, another Brazilian World Cup winner, Roberto Carlos, will be present to cheer on the students. Carlos is currently the marquee player-cum-manager of Indian Super League’s (ISL) franchise Delhi Dynamos which has 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, by that time, finalised the teams.
“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.
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