Top teams to kick off in U-15 Manchester United Premier Cup

Chennai, Nov 26 (UNI) The battle for the Under-15 Manchester United Premier Cup qualification championships for the South and West Zone teams will kick off here from November 28 to December 1 among the country's top clubs and academies.

All India Football Federation(AIFF) Vice president C R Visswanathan told newspersons today that the teams have been divided into four groups of four teams each. They will compete in a league format. The winners of each group will move into the semi finals, to be held on December 1.

The final will also be held on the same day.

Explaining the details of the tournament, Sukhvinder Singh, an official of Nike India Pvt Ltd, said the duration of the play will be 20 minutes in each half with a five minute break in between.

The tournament is being conducted by the AIFF in three phases, two zonal qualifiers and an India final. The qualification event for the East and North will be held at Chandigarh from December 13 to December 16.

Four semi finalists each from the Zonal qualifiers will meet in the India finals in Goa from January 16 to 20 next year.

The winners will earn a berth in the MUPC South East Asia finals, which will be held in May 2008. The top team from this tournament will compete in the Under 15 Manchester United Premier Cup, 2008, to be held in England.

Mohun Bagan and East Bengal had qualified from the South East Asia finals in 2005 and 2006, respectively, but finished 20th and 18th in the 20 team final event in England.

Mumbai FC, Mahindra United, Salgaocar Club, Sambalpur football Academy and Viva FC are the other prominent teams in fray.

UNI