A whopping forty-eight teams representing forty local schools will lock horns in the inaugural edition of Godrej Properties-Pune FC ‘The Futsal Cup 2015’, an inter-school Under-12 Invitational five-a-side football tournament, which kicks off at the Freekick Turfs in Balewadi on July 27th.
The tournament has been conceptualised around a unique idea which also brings the involvement of Under-10s in each team. Primarily, the aim is promoting football at the grassroots level among schools from all over Pune and the Pimpri-Chinchwad area in an age group which otherwise is starved of appropriate competition, an area where grassroots stresses its importance.
With each team allowed to register ten players in this unique 5-a-side competition, a little below five hundred kids will participate over the course of five days in this tournament.
Moreover, keeping in mind the need to engage young children, The Futsal Cup through its slogan ‘Seeding Future Stars’, requires each team to register three players under the age of ten years in the squad while also playing one in the five during a match.
The participating teams have been divided into 16 groups of three teams each. Every team will play a minimum of two games in the Group Stage, and the top team from each group will qualify for the knockout phase.
Winners in the knockout phase will proceed into the quarters, subsequently the semifinals before the Grand Finale which will be played on July 31st.
Speaking about the competition, Chirag Tanna, Pune FC Head Operations said, “It’s the first year of The Futsal Cup. We have planned it in a format which will make it fun for all the kids who will be involved as well as provide the right amount of competitiveness to the schools. We are eagerly looking forward to the tournament and hope it provides a right platform for budding youngsters to showcase their talent.”
For this mega inter-school event, Pune FC has also teamed up with ten additional partners. They include Brainmap Corps Hub (Knowledge Partner), Get-A-Game (Outreach Partner), Relispray (Relief Partner), Toonz (Styling Partner), Adlabs Imagica (Entertainment Partner), Fruit Shoot (Beverage Partner), Star Hospitals (Medical Partner), Rolls Mania (Refreshment Partner), Freekick Turfs (Pune FC Soccer Schools Partner) and PCMC local hyper-local portal MyPimpriChinchwad.com (Digital Partner).
