the goan I network
PANAJI
Neymar Jr's Five, a global five-on-five football tournament organised by energy drink giant Red Bull, kicked off its city qualifiers in India
on Saturday.
The tournament will be held across 14 cities in the country -- Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Goa, Delhi, Aizawl, Chandigarh, Guwahati, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kochi and Shillong. The first round started in Aizawl on Saturday. Go will host the tournament on January 21.
The winning teams from the city qualifiers will compete at the national finals in March for a chance to make it to the Neymar Jr's Five 2018 World Finals in Brazil in July. It is the biggest 5-a-side football tournament in the country in terms of locations and participants.
The pre-qualifiers of the 3rd edition of Neymar Jr's Five were held in September last year at Futsal Arena, DY Patil Stadium as a part of the four-day long football festival prior to the FIFA U-17 World Cup. Neymar Jr's Five gives football lovers across India a chance to use their street skills to carve their path to glory, and a chance to represent the country in Brazil.
The tournament organised by Red Bull has a unique, fast-paced format where two teams of five players, sans a goalkeeper, have 10 minutes to strut their stuff and win a chance to impress Neymar Jr. The twist in the thrilling affair is that for each goal scored by a team, a member of the opposition will have to leave the field. The team with the maximum players take
the spoils.
The winner is the team with most players on the field (goals) after 10 minutes or if all players are eliminated. If both teams score equal number of goals, or if no goals are scored, the match is drawn. Each team must have participants of the age 16-25 and 2 players can be older than
25 years.
