Hero U-17 Women’s Championship to feature 73 players from four teams

Hero U-17 Women’s Championship, the precursor to the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, will feature 73 players playing for four teams from November 11-17 in Kalyani.

The tournament is aimed to build interest in women’s football in the country as a build up to the 2020 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup scheduled in India.

The Hero U-17 Women’s Championship 2019, organized by Football Sports Development Limited and Reliance Foundation, will get underway from Monday, November 11 in Kalyani, West Bengal. The tournament, which was announced earlier this year, will feature 4 teams competing for the trophy over a seven-day period.

The four-teams – Panthers, Tigresses, Lionesses and Cheetahs, will face each other once in a round robin format. A total of 73 players will be pitted against each other as part of the 4 teams, with each team having a five-member support staff consisting of a head coach, assistant coach, goalkeeping coach, physio and team manager. 

The tournament is aimed to build interest in women’s football in the country as a build up to the 2020 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup scheduled in India.

Coached by India’s national U-19 women’s team coach, Alex Ambrose, the Lionesses will certainly pose a threat to the other teams along with a great learning experience. However, Cheetahs are expected to be boosted by Indian football legend and Arjuna Awardee, Oinam Bembem Devi. There will be no lack of experience and expertise as Tigresses and Panthers will be coached by former U-14 women’s team coach Priya and former India national team member Subhash Chakraborty. The final will be played on Sunday, November 17, in Kalyani.

Matches will be telecasted in 6 languages (English, Hindi, Bangla, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada) across the Star Sports Network, Hotstar and Jio TV.