Santosh Trophy Tournament Begins in Sharda University, Uttarakhand to clash with Chandigarh on Day1

15/1/2018           Saurabh Kumar

Today 72nd Santosh Trophy tournament (north zone) on the campus of Sharda University in Greater Noida has began. There are total eight teams participating in the tournament from Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Chandigarh and Uttarakhand from January 15-20.

The inaugural match of the tournament will be played on Monday between Uttarakhand and Chandigarh, for which a footfall of 2,000 people is expected. The tournament is being organised by Gautam Buddha Nagar Football Association in collaboration with All India Football Federation and Uttar Pradesh Football Sangh. More than 120 players, coaches, team managers and referees have already reached Greater Noida and are busy in their training sessions.

After I-league and FIFA Cup craze for football has enhanced among youngsters in the Country. Uttar Pradesh had become champion this year in Under-19 and results of this will be seen in the performance of players.

Mohammad Aarif Najmi, an official of UP Football Sangh said “The eight teams will be divided into two pools of four teams each. Each team will play three matches in the league round and based on their points, the team with highest points in each pool will be selected for the finals, which will be played on January 20. Three points are rewarded if a team wins a match and one point is given to each team in case of a draw.”