MARGAO
The National Finals of the FC Bayern Youth Cup kicked-off at Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (PJN) Stadium, Fatorda, on Tuesday.
Considered as one of the oldest youth football tournaments, the three-day event organised by BigHit will see U-15 players get a chance to showcase their footballing talent thereby enabling scouts to choose best 10 players in the country who eventually qualify for the World Final 2023 in Munich.
The event will see players hailing from 8 states, where 16 teams with 240 players will vie for a chance to play at the World Final hosted by European giants Bayern Munich.
During a media interaction, Chief scouter Hans Pflügler explained the rational behind the tournament. He noted that apart from football dimension which offers the players an opportunity to prove themselves and go to Europe to enhance their careers, the tournament offers cultural exchange between India and Germany.
“The tournament is an opportunity to first of all give them an opportunity to prove themselves here in India and the chosen ones will go to Europe. It is a once in life opportunity to experience European football first hand, the training conditions, the staff we have over there and ultimately that they improve themselves.”
The FC Bayern International Manager, Francisco Quinones, said the competition is simultaneously held in seven countries across the world. “After national championship, a pool of ten best players are selected to represent India at the World Youth Tournament in Germany,” he added.
“This year we are going to have teams from USA, Mexico, Argentina, Morocco (is a new addition to the tournament), South Africa and Team Germany. We are going to have Team China this year and then of course, Nigeria,” he stated.
“The plan is to select ten players who will be playing in a 7v7 format but we also select a backup ten. The World Finals is in October, a lot of things can happen between now and October “ Visa, injuries (we don’t hope for that) we hope that the best ten players will attend, but when these things happen, we hope to be able to replace the players,” said Victor Edeh, the country Director of VOE Foundation which partners FC Bayern in organising the competition.
