Kolkata: The prestigious IFA-Shield is scheduled to begin on the 27th May. Earlier it was decided that the tournament would start on the 23rd but it was later shifted to 27th.
The IFA Shield is one of the oldest tournament of the country and the fourth oldest tournament of the world. It was first held in 1893. This year’s IFA shield will not feature any foreign teams.
Kolkata giants East Bengal has won this tournament for a record 29 times while Mohun Bagan has won this tournament for 22 times.
A total of ten teams would take part in this tournament. Apart from the big teams like Mouhn Bagan, East Bengal and Mohammedan FC, others like TFA, AIFF, Pune FC, and Minerva FC the winners of the Preliminary qualifiers from North-East and Bangaluru would also participate.
The prize money for the Champions has been set to Rupees Fifty Thousand, while the Runners-up of the tournament would receive prize money of Rupees Twenty-Five Thousand.
The venues for this tournament are set to be the home grounds of East Bengal, Mohun Bagan, Mohammedan and also at Barasat.
However the date as well as the venue of the final is yet to be decided.
The Preliminary round for the IFA shield is starts on 14th May with a total of 16 teams.
“For participating in this tournament the players should be born from 1st Jan 1998 to 31st Dec 2000”, said IFA Secretary Utpal Ganguly.