Aimed at spotting talent at the grass-root level, around 25,000 players will take part in the 5th edition of the Tata Group Community Football Tournament, which will kick off at Baraghat in Musaboni block of East Singhbhum district tomorrow.
The round-robin tournament will be played over 48 locations across five districts of Jharkhand covering all blocks and panchayats of East Singhbhum, West Singhbhum and Seraikela-Kharswan and Tata's mining locations of Bokaro and Dhanbad, Biren Bhuta, Chief of Corporate Social Responsibility of Tata Steel, said.
Addressing a press conference here today, Bhuta said the objective of the community football tournament was to identify football talent and nurture them properly, so that they can make a career in the sport.
Each location will have 15 matches each for under-15 and Open category, he said adding that altogether 1500 teams will be seen in action during two-month long tournament.
Besides, around 500 under-15 players will be selected based on their performance in the tournament and then shortlisted to 50/60 players under the supervisions of qualified coaches including from Tata Football Academy (TFA) here.
Of the 50/60 players, Mukul Choudhury, Administrator of TFA, said they had a plan to field a under-15 team in the All India Football Federation-sponsored I-leaque this year.
