The sixth edition of the FC Bayern Youth Cup, an under-16 seven-a-side inter-school football tournament, is set to kickstart from November 24 across six cities in India.
The FC Bayern Youth Cup -- a joint initiative by adidas and Germen giants FC Bayern -- will see participation of over 2,000 kids from schools across India.
The city legs of the tournament spanning over a period of 14 weeks, will be played in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai and Srinagar. The final will take place in February next year in Delhi.
The tournament allows young children to experience a professional footballer's life. The winning team will represent 'Team India' in the FC Bayern Youth Cup World Finals and get to train under the professionals in Munich in May next year.
The selected players also get a chance to watch the season's last Bundesliga match at the iconic Allianz Arena.
"India has been referred to as, "the sleeping giant of world football" which was reinforced with FIFA U-17 World Cup tournament being held in the country, giving a chance to unveil the vast talent that India holds in the sport," said Sean Van Wyk, Senior Marketing Director, adidas India.
More From This Section
"The past five seasons of the tournament have received great response and school teams are really excited to be participating in this year's edition," he added.
Bixente Lizarazu, former FC Bayern player will visit Delhi for the final to encourage the participants and give them a glimpse of what's in store for the winning team.
"India has surprised everybody with the kind of talent it has produced in football in spite of entering the football scene at a much later stage, considering football isn't a main league sport in the country," Lizarazu said.
"It's an honour to monitor the progress of these young teams, impart my learnings to the best possible extent and let me confess, these budding talents amaze me with their skill set," he added.