Eight teams for Rovers Cup football
Eight teams, including the youth team from Iran, will vie for honours in the Bristol Rovers Cup football tournament, in its centenary year, at the Cooperage, in Bombay, from December 30 to January 9, 2001.
Western India Football Association president Praful Patel said the
other seven teams apart from the Iran outfit would be Calcutta
giants Kingfisher East Bengal Club and Mohun Bagan, Goan
outfits Zee Churchill Brothers and Salgaocar Sports Club,
local outfits Mahindra United and Air India and JCT Sports
Club, Phagwara.
The teams have been divided into two groups of four teams
each, with East Bengal, Churchill, JCT and Mahindras in
Group A. The other teams in Group B are Iran Youth
Club, Mohun Bagan, Salgaocar and Air India.
The tournament will be played on a league cum knock-out
basis, with the top two teams from each group making it to the
semi-finals.
The winners will be richer by Rs 250,000 while the
runner-up will collect Rs 150,000. The two losing
semi-finalists will take home Rs 100,000 each while the man
of the tournament will get Rs 50,000.
A cheque of Rs 500,000, which
is long overdue to the Maharashtra team for winning the Santosh
Trophy this year, will be handed over to them during the
Rovers Cup final on January 9.