Chandigarh to host Administrator's Challenge Cup from Nov 21

Deepankar Sharda

Chandigarh, November 2

After a gap of two years, the UT Sports Department will host the Administrator’s Challenge Cup All-India Football Tournament from November 21 to 29, claimed sources.

Unlike its last edition, the championship will be conducted in the U-17 age group. As many as 25 teams from across the nation have been invited to participate in this event.

“Higher officials have given the approval to conduct the championship from November 21. We have invited around 25 teams to participate in the tournament. However, their confirmation is yet to be received. The department will finalise the proceedings before November 20,” confirmed an official in the Sports Department.

This year, the championship will be held at two venues — Sector 46 Sports Complex and Sector 42 Sports Complex. In the last edition, the matches were also conducted at the Sector 7 Sports Complex. Since the project to lay the city’s first synthetic athletics track started, the venue will not be available to host football matches. The Sports Department is also yet to take over the Sector 17 football stadium. So, it is left with only two options.

“These (Sector 42 and Sector 46) are specialised grounds and are enough to hold the nine-day tourney. The grounds are already been prepared and, if needed, we will book other grounds to host these matches,” said the official.

The sources also confirmed that the winning team is likely to take home a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh. While the team finishing second will pocket Rs 1 lakh, the side claiming the third spot will get richer by Rs 75,000. Like previous years, all participants will have to undergo an age determination test before the tournament and only those players registered under the All-India Football Federation (AIFF) Central Registration System (CRS) will be eligible to participate in the tournament. The age-verification committee, to be constituted by the Sports Department, will scrutinise the players.

The Administrator’s Cup is one of the oldest tournaments organised by the Sports Department and, previously, top clubs from across India participated in it. The tournament was played in U-14 age group for the initial few years. However, it was later upgraded to the U-17 category.

Prize money

Sources confirmed that the winning team is likely to take home a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh. While the team finishing second will pocket Rs 1 lakh, the side claiming the third spot will get richer by Rs 75,000.

Age determination test to be conducted

Like previous years, all participants will have to undergo an age determination test before the tournament and only those players registered under the All-India Football Federation (AIFF) Central Registration System (CRS) will be eligible to participate in the tournament.