Indian Football: Bengaluru FC, on Thursday, announced that the inaugural edition of the JSW Youth Cup would take place at the JSW Township, in Bellary. The tournament, scheduled to begin in the third week of March 2022, will see five Residential Academies – Dempo SC, Reliance Foundation Young Champs, Roundglass Punjab, SESA FA Goa and Bengaluru FC – compete against each other over two weeks. Follow all the LIVE Updates of Indian Football only on InsideSport.IN
“We are really excited to host some of India’s best youth academies for the inaugural edition of the JSW Youth Cup. During the COVID19 pandemic several teams have found it hard to get competitive matches across age groups, and we aim to bridge that gap,” said club CEO, Mandar Tamhane.
The Blues are happy to announce the JSW Youth Cup, which will take place at the Inspire Institute of Sport facilities and JSW Township, where five of India's Residential Academies will battle it out for top honours. Read ⬇️#WeAreBFC #YouthDevelopment https://t.co/N0NClH8jHT
— Bengaluru FC (@bengalurufc) March 10, 2022
The JSW Youth Cup, initially scheduled to be held in 2021 and rescheduled due to the pandemic and lockdowns imposed in several parts of the country, will be played in a League-cum-knockout format. The tournament, set to be played in the Under-18 age group, marks phase one of the club’s plans to present tournaments to age-group teams in the coming months.
“While the first part of this competition involves the U18s, plans are already in place to host it at the U15 and U13 level as well. We want to ensure that the best players in these age groups across the country have opportunities to develop and the JSW Youth Cup is a step in that direction,” Tamhane added.
The JSW Youth Cup will be held at the Inspire Institute of Sport facilities and JSW Township in Toranagallu, Karnataka, with all teams secured within a bio-bubble.
We have seen how Bengaluru FC have benefitted from their prodigious youth academy as several players have caught the eye of the senior team head coach Marco Pezzaiuoli as he wishes to continue his growth as the Blues showed they have potential in them to get back to being the best in the country. Players like Sivasakthi Narayanan, Damaitphang Lyngdoh, Namgyal Bhutia, Paraga Srivas have been decent for the Blues in the concluding Indian Super League season. But the biggest surprise of them all was fullback Roshan Singh who even Igor Stimac as he earned a callup for the national team for his exceptional performances and played a big role in ressurecng their campaign in a better way.