New Title Sponsor for the 118th IFA Shield !

The Indian Football Association (IFA) West Bengal announced Unnayan Group as the title sponsor for 118TH IFA SHIELD TOURNAMENT in a press conference held at The Indian Football Association Office in Kolkata today.

 The IFA Shield is the most prestigious football competition organized by the Indian Football Association since 1893. It is the fourth oldest club cup competition in the world after the English and Scottish FA cup's and the Durand Cup. Over the years as football has gained more viewership in India, The IFA Shield has become the tournament to watch out. 

Top 8 clubs like Kingfisher East Bengal, McDowell Mohun Bagan, Md. Sporting Club, United SC, United Sikkim F.C., Lt. Sk. Jamal Dhanmondi Club Ltd. from Bangladesh, Busan Sunmoon F.C. from South Korea and Geylang International F.C. from Singapore will participate in this year’s competition vying for the top position and prize. 

Speaking on the conference Mr. U.K. Ganguly, Hon. Secretary, IFA said “This tournament will help the players to showcase their talents and will be in keeping with our objective of promoting football. We are confident of the bright future of football in West Bengal and the ‘Unnayan Group 118TH IFA SHIELD’ will surely help accelerate our progress towards this end. With the participation of some top teams from India and abroad , this tournament aims to discover and promote football talent.”

Mr. Partha Ghosh Dastidar, Chairman of Unnayan Group said, “Football is becoming a big sport in India now and it has all begun from Kolkata, the home of football in India. Therefore through this association we aim to reward the football crazy people in Kolkata. Unnayan Group has always supported football and now it’s a great honour to sponsor the IFA Shield. We are delighted to be a part of the event and we look forward to supporting them in the future as well.”

The tournament will kick off from 29th January 2014. The teams are divided in 2 groups. The teams in each group will play among themselves on a round-robin basis and the top two teams of each group will qualify to Semi-final stage, to ultimately decide the Champion and Runners-Up of the tournament.

Group I composed of Kingfisher East Bengal, United SC, Geylang International F.C. and Busan Sunmoon F.C.. The second Group will be made up by teams like McDowell Mohun Bagan, Md. Sporting Club, United Sikkim Club and Lt. Sk. Jamal Dhanmondi Club Ltd.

 The matches will be played at Barasat Stadium and VYBK. The Venue for Two Semi Finals and Final will be VYBK. The Final will be on 11th February 2014. All the matches can be seen on Star Jalsha Movies Channel.

The Winner and Runners up of the tournament will be paid Rs. Twenty Five Lac and Rupees Fifteen Lac respectively. The Third Placed Team will be paid Rupees Five Lac. The Player declared as the Man of the Match at Group Stage will be paid Rs. 5000/- per match and at Knock-out stage Rs.10,000/-. The Best Player of the Tournament will be paid Rs. 25,000/- and atrophy in memory of Legend Sailen Manna. The Best Coach of the Tournament will be will be paid Rs.1,00,000/-.as prize money and a trophy in memory of Rahim Sahib.

Group A

East Bengal Club

United SC

Busan Transport Corporation (Busan Kion Tong) (SOUTH KOREA)

Geylang International (SINGAPORE)

Group B

Mohun Bagan

Mohammedan Sporting

United Sikkim FC

Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club (BANGLADESH)

IFA Press Release