Kerala football news

Tata Tea Soccer Stars: Kozhikode phase held

650 children from 66 schools around the state participated in the Tata Tea Jaago Re Soccer Stars tournament held at the Corporation Stadium, Calicut on the 17th and 18th of December.

The schools were grouped into 22 clusters with 3 teams each. The teams in the groups played each other and the leaders of the group qualified for the Pre-quarter finals. Government Higher Secondary School, Mavoor were crowned the champions in the inter-school tournament.

Out of the 66 schools which participated here, 42 teams where from the host district – Kozhikode. The neighbouring district and one of the strongholds of Kerala football – Malapuram – had 18 schools while Wayanad had 4 schools to represent them. Thiruvananthapuram and Thiruvalla both had only one representative.

The defending champions, Crescent HSS from Vellimuku, did not feature in this year’s edition while runners up Mar Gregarios HSS, Engapuzha where present.

The matches were played in seven-a-side format with 2 halves each of 14 minutes. 1 boy each from the districts of Malapuram and Kozhikode  picked by an expert panel which had yesteryear footballer Premnath Philip and scout Jamshid Nassiri.

The selected players will feature in the next phase of the tournament at Kolkata and has a chance to fly to England to play in the Arsenal International Soccer Festival held by the English football club, Arsenal FC. Sameel from Kozhikode was selected to play for the Soccer Stars who represented India in last year’s festival.

More about Tata Tea Arsenal Soccer Stars:

“Tata Tea Arsenal Soccer Stars”, a national tournament for children aged 10 – 15 years began in
phases across eight cities: Bangalore, Goa, Kozhikode, Chandigarh, Delhi, Mumbai, Shillong and
Kolkata with each city having its own elimination rounds. Final 2 teams from each city participates in
the national finals at Kolkata to decide the national winners.

Head Scout, Jamshid Nassiri, assisted by different scouts in each zone, observes players across these
eight cities on various parameters and short-lists the best 30. These 30 players takes part in an
intensive two-week training camp which include the customized Arsenal development programme
called “The Arsenal Way”. Post the camp, conducted by coaches from the Arsenal Club, the final 16
will be chosen. More than 5000 students participated from over 400 schools in this tournament making
it one of the largest such sporting activities in the country last year.

Adwaidh R writes for footballkerala.com