International Youth Cup football to begin in Goa on May 15

Keen on providing exposure to the Under-16 national squad preparing for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup next year, the All India Football Federation will organise a five-nation International Youth Cup in Goa from May 15.

United States of America, Korea Republic, Tanzania and Malaysia will take part in the tournament, besides hosts India. All the five teams would be playing against each other in a round-robin format, with the top two making it to the final to be played on May 25. All the matches will be played at Tilak Maidan at Vasco.

AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das said that the purpose of the tournament was to “get a sense of how the Under-16 team is shaping up”.

“The whole purpose of the AIFF Youth Cup is to get a sense of how the Under-17 World Cup is shaping up. The AIFF has facilitated a number of exposure tours for them in the past few months and we will continue to do so,” he said in a release. “The Tournament will provide us further clarity of what we need to improve,” he added. Goa will also host the AFC Under-16 Finals from September 15 to October 2, the draw of which is slated to be held in Goa on May 26.

India, despite being the hosts, had qualified for the AFC Under-16 Finals on merit on the basis of their performance in the AFC U-16 Qualifiers in Tabriz in September last year.

Fixture of AIFF Youth Cup: May 15: Tanzania vs USA; India vs Malaysia. May 17: India vs Tanzania; Malaysia vs Korea. May 19: Korea vs Tanzania; USA vs India. May 21: USA vs Korea; Tanzania vs Malaysia (8pm). May 23: Malaysia vs USA; Korea vs India. May 25: Third Place play-off; Final.