World Cup fever catches up: UK-based Umbro Cup comes to India

Mumbai: As part of its global commitment towards development of football and its focus on popularising grassroots football in India, UK-based soccer brand Umbro is hosting the ‘Umbro Cup’. A 5-a-side football tournament is to be held in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata. Umbro is the world’s leading football brand with presence in over 90 countries worldwide.

Adding to the excitement of the ongoing FIFA World Cup, Umbro wants Indians to join in the celebration and be a part of the ‘Umbro Cup’. The tournament will take place in Mumbai from July 4-6 and in Kolkata and Bengaluru on 12th and 13th July simultaneously. The tournament will be held at Cooperage in Mumbai, Gitanjali Stadium in Kolkata and XLR8 India Indoor Sports Arena in Bengaluru.

Ajay Chablani - business head - planet sports of Future Lifestyle Fashion, the company responsible for introducing Umbro to India, says, “Umbro as a brand has been involved in football development programs across the world and is delighted to extend its commitment to India. We hope the ‘Umbro Cup’ serves as a platform for talented football players in India to showcase their skills and talent and encourage more and more people to play football.”

About 2,000 players will compete in the tournament across 5 categories i.e. under-12, under-14, under-16, open and corporates. Over 80 teams are expected to participate across the categories in each of the three cities. The ‘Umbro Cup’ will include participants across categories and would have school children from prominent and well known schools like Don Bosco, Hume High School, St. Theresa to name a few.

Besides school children, college students and students from other faculties can also participate in the Open category. In the corporate category, there would be participants from blue chip companies like — Intel, JP Morgan, Standard Chartered and many others vying for the ‘Umbro Cup’.

The ‘Umbro Cup’ is a knockout tournament and is divided in to four rounds. Round one is a round of 16 teams, round two is the quarter finals, round three is the semifinals and final round is round four. SportzConsult, a leading sports management company based out of Mumbai will be managing the tournament.