Subroto Cup
Subroto Cup International Football Tournament is a prestigious inter-school football tournament that is held annually in New Delhi, India. The Tournament is named after the first Indian Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee, It is an annual event that began in 1960. This is a unique tournament where in the champion school teams from all states and foreign countries participate in this tournament, making it one of the most noteworthy school-level football competitions.
History
The idea of having a junior football tournament was first conceived in 1958 by (Late) Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee, a keen soccer lover whilst he was the chief of the Air Staff. According to him, football needed to be encouraged at grass root level. Subroto Mukerjee Sports Education Society was formed in 1960 after his untimely demise in Tokyo. The first tournament was held in 1960, with participation of about 50 school teams. Till 1997, the tournament was conducted only for Boys U-17 category. In 1998 a new category i.e. Boys U-14 was introduced. To further the prime objective of the Society to encourage soccer in the country, the tournament has been extended to Girls U-17 category in 2012.
From a modest start in 1960 with teams only from Delhi, today, almost 34,000 school teams from all over the country take part in this prestigious tournament starting from the state level. Teams from Brazil, Australia, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Switzerland, Sweden, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan, Malaysia, Israel, Bhutan, UAE, Indonesia and Uzbekistan have participated in this tournament in the recent past giving it an international stature.
Organisation
Subroto Cupis conducted by the Air Force Sports Control Board. The initial editions were organized by the Durand football tournament committee. In 1994, the Air Force Sports Control Board took over the Subroto Cup tournament and has been conducting it since then.
Preliminary inter-school tournaments are organized in every state & union territory starting from Sub-division, district and division level culminating in the inter-school finals at the state level. The school teams, winning the state inter-school championships are then invited to participate in the main Subroto Cup Tournament at Delhi. The tournament is played on league cum knock out basis and is played in accordance with laws of the game as framed by FIFA as adopted by AIFF & SSCB.
Subroto Mukerjee Sports Education Society was conferred with “Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar '' for ‘Development of Sports’ by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. The award was presented by Hon’ble President of India, in a ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan on 29 August 2016.
