Tata Tea Arsenal tourney, a ticket to United Kingdom

15 boys from across the country will be selected and trained to play in Arsenal International Soccer festival.

The Tata Tea novel and pioneering grassroot development initiative in association with English Premiership giant Arsenal is really a pathbreaking and head-turning mission for the much-needed upliftment and development of soccer at large in the country.

The Tata Tea is providing 15 Indian boys a once in a lifetime opportunity to visit Emirates Stadium in London to meet Arsenal Chief coach Arsene Wenger and host of international stars who play for the club.

The project is one of its kind as it will also give the 15 lucky players of the country a mega platform to compete along with the best of clubs from all over the world in an international soccer festival organised by Arsenal Soccer club.

Moreover the boys will also be trained for two weeks by Arsenal coaches in ‘Arsene Wenger’s way’ under a personal coaching manual developed by head coach Arsene Wenger. Arsenal Soccer School Development Manager Paul Shipwright will train the kids in Kolkata before they head off for Arsenal.

A three-member expert group headed by former Iran player Jamshid Nassiri will select the Indian participants from nine centres in the country through a nation-wide Tata Tea Arsenal Soccer Stars seven-a-side under-15 tournaments, conceptualised by High Life Management, which is being underway across the country.

Thirty boys, a minimum of three boys per venue, will be selected for the final training camp to be held in Kolkata in the month of May.

A squad of 15 will be pruned out of these 30 to represent the country for an international seven-a-side tournament in London from July 29 to August 4 in which famous clubs, including Europe and South America, from across the globe will also take part.

The message to the blossoming footballers was quite loud and clear from the Head of the selection committee, Jamshid Nassiri, “Get your passports ready as you could be the one who will board the Arsenal bound flight.”

Talking to NewstrackIndia former Iran national player and Mohammedan Sporting striker Jamshid Nassiri clearly stated, “Our aim is to bring out good picture of football and create an atmosphere for the exposure of the game among kids.”

When asked that what the selection committee is basically looking at while picking up the kids, “We are primarily focussing at good technique and good physique.”

According to one of the organisers Saurav Chatterjee, “We know that lots of European clubs are coming to India but the first corporate tie-up with the English Premiership Club has been done by us.”

Delhi gears up for Tata Tea Arsenal tourney

The Delhi leg of the Tata Tea Arsenal tourney is getting a huge response from the capital as well as National Capital Region (Region) schools since it is giving an ideal opportunity for the budding footballers to showcase their talent and duly rewarded with a ticket to Unite Kingdom.

A total of 40 schools have been confirmed their participation till Thursday evening for the Delhi leg with more to join till Friday, the deadline set by the organisers. 48 schools took part in the Bangalore leg, 46 in Calicut, 42 in Goa while 30 schools participated in the Chandigarh leg of the tournament.

According to Head Scout Nassiri Bangalore has been the best centre so far he has watched. But he is quite optimistic as there is lot to come in coming days.

The pathbreaking tournament commenced on January 27 and has completed four legs in Bangalore, Calicut, Goa and Chandigarh so far. The fifth leg will get underway in Delhi on April 12 and 13, to be followed in Mumbai, Bhubaneswar, Shillong and Kolkata.

Sixteen teams from different centres will fight it out to claim the top honours by becoming the champion school of India in the Tata Tea Arsenal Soccer Stars All India finals in Kolkata on May 17.

The organisers highly boast of their tournament, as it is the largest ever school tournament in the country with over 450 schools taking part in it.

UNIQUE FEATURES OF SEVEN-A-SIDE TOURNEY

The tournament will be played in a curtailed field of 50m by 30 m and the size of the poles will be 12 ft by 5 ft. The duration of the game will be of 16 minutes, eight minutes in each half, with no break given in between making it further interesting and captivating.

According to Tournament Director Farhad Irani, there will be three rolling substitution with no off-side rule coming into play. In addition there will be kick-in in place of throw-in.

There will be three teams in each group, playing in the league stage on the first day, and out of which one team will make it to the knock-out round that is to be played on the following day culminating it to semis and finals.