Bengaluru has been added to the list of host cities for the upcoming Subroto Cup International Football Tournament, which will be hosted at three sites from September 19 to October 23.
Previously, the oldest national inter-school football event was in Delhi and Gurugram.
The Under-17 junior boys and girls competitions will be conducted in Delhi-NCR, while the Under-14 sub-junior boys competition will be held in Bengaluru at the ASC Centre, Air Force School, Jalahalli, and Air Force School, Yehalanka.
The matches will be held at the Ambedkar Stadium, Tejas Football Ground (Delhi), Subroto Football Ground (Delhi), and GD Goenka School (Gurugram) in Delhi-NCR.
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109 teams from 27 states and union territories will compete in three categories. With nearly 180 matches scheduled, teams from Bangladesh and Nepal will give a foreign flavour.
The defending champions in the junior boys tournament are Pilgrim Higher Secondary School, Dimapur (Nagaland), and the reigning champions in the junior ladies tournament are St Patrick's School, Gumla (Jharkhand). The previous edition's winner in the sub-junior boys category was Heirok Higher Secondary School, Imphal (Manipur).
"The 62nd Subroto Cup will be historic given that it will be played in Bengaluru for the first time. We have desired to spread the reach of this tournament to more corners of the country," said Air Marshal RK Anand, vice-chairman of Subroto Mukerjee Sports Education Society.
(With PTI inputs)
