Subroto Cup International Football Tournament is a prestigious international inter-school football tournament that is held annually in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...

, India. The tournament held annually since 1960, is named after the Indian Air Force Air Marshal

Subroto Mukerjee Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee OBE (Bengali: সুব্রত মুখোপাধ্যায়) (5 March 1911 – 8 November 1960) was an Indian military officer who was the first Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the Indian Air Force. He wa ...

. It is the oldest national school football tournament in India and was instituted to promote and encourage the sport at the grassroots level in the country, Students from different countries across

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

participate in this tournament, making it one of the more noteworthy school-level football competitions.

History

conceived the idea in 1958 when he was the Chief of the Air Staff. Subroto Mukerjee Sports Education Society was formed in 1960 after his untimely death in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

. The first tournament was held in 1960, with participation of about 50 school teams. The number of schools participating increased over the years. Since 1998, the tournament is played in two age groups, sub-Junior (under 14 years) and Junior (under 17 years).

Madhyamgram Madhyamgram is a city and a municipality of North 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is close to Kolkata and also a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA). History Madhyamgram wa ...

High School from West Bengal has won the U-17 tournament seven times in total, which includes a hat trick of titles in the year 1981, 1982 and 1983.

Organisation

Subroto Cup is conducted by the Indian Air Force, with the help of Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports. Initially it was organized by the Durand football tournament committee but in 1994, the Air Force Sports Control Board took over the Subroto Cup tournament and has been conducting it since then. The preliminary inter-school tournaments are held in every state of India starting from sub-division,

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

and

division Division or divider may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication *Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting ...

level culminating in the inter-school finals at the state level. The school teams, winning the state inter-school championships are then invited to participate in the main Subroto Cup Tournament at

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

. The tournament is held on a league cum knock out basis system and is played in accordance with laws and rules relating as framed by FIFA and as adopted by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and the

Services Sports Control Board Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) is a sports board run by the Indian Armed Forces. It was formed in 1919 as the Army Sports Control Board and later renamed to Services Sports Control Board. The board is represented as Services in the Nation ...

. The duration of the game in the league matches is 30 minutes each half with an interval of 10 minutes. In the event of a draw in the knock-out matches, extra time of 7 minutes each half with one minute's interval is allowed. If a match ends in a draw even after extra time, the game is decided by enforcing the

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

rule.

Tournament structure

The current tournament structure consists of the preliminary inter-school tournaments at different divisional levels culminating in the inter-school finals at the state level. The winners then participate in the main national tournament.

Venues

The venues for the tournament held at

: *

Ambedkar Stadium Dr. Ambedkar Stadium is a football stadium in New Delhi, India. The stadium is named in honour of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, famous social reformer and architect of the Indian Constitution. It was earlier known as the Corporation Stadium. It also he ...

* Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium *Tejas Football Ground (Race Course) *Subroto Park

International Participation

School teams from numerous countries have played in the tournament, with the first team reaching the final in 1993 being the Special Sports School from Uzbekistan. Since then many schools from foreign countries take part regularly, such as Brazil, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Nepal, Ukraine, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan etc. In the 2015 Championship, for the first time teams of boys and girls came from

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

for the tournament. Brazilian legend and football's elder statesman Pele came to India after a gap of 38 years to attend the final of the 56th edition of the Subroto Cup as the chief guest. In 2016,

Rivaldo Rivaldo Vítor Borba Ferreira (born 19 April 1972), known simply as Rivaldo (), is a Brazilian former footballer who played mainly as an attacking midfielder but also as a second striker, and on occasion deployed as a wide midfielder or as a ...

and

Roberto Carlos Roberto Carlos da Silva Rocha (born 10 April 1973), commonly known as Roberto Carlos, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who now works as a football ambassador. He started his career in Brazil as a forward but spent most of his car ...

were the chief guests at the 57th edition.

Sponsorship

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* Canara Bank *

Central Bank of India Central Bank of India (CBI) is an Indian public sector bank based in Mumbai. Despite its name, it is not the central bank of India; The Indian central bank is the Reserve Bank of India. History The Central Bank of India was established on ...

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*Enerzal * LIC *

Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports is a branch of the Government of India which administers the Department of youth affairs and the Department of Sports in India. Anurag Thakur is the current Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports followed ...

* SAI * SBI

Results

Junior (U–17) football tournament

The following is the list of winners and runners-up:

Sub–Junior (U–14) football tournament

At the request of the School Games Federation of India, the Subroto Cup organisers started a sub-junior (11-14 Years) football tournament from 1998. Sixteens teams participated in the inaugural tournament, while more schools took part in the following years. Since 2000, the fairplay trophy for the sub-junior group has been named in the memory of late Lieutenant Sandeep Loomba, who died in a mountaineering expedition at

Abi Gamin Abi Gamin (also known as Ibi Gamin) is a Himalayan mountain peak mostly situated in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand state in India, northeast of Kamet. Its summit is on the border with Tibet and its northern slope is in the Ngari Prefe ...

peak. Fairplay trophy for the junior group, medals and certificates for both the age groups, are provided by the Subroto Society

Girls Junior (U–17) football tournament

References

* * * * *

External links

Official website
* {{Football in India Football cup competitions in India Youth football competitions Youth football in India 1960 establishments in India Recurring sporting events established in 1960 History of the Indian Air Force