Tata Steel entered into its Centenary year on August 26, 2007. As a part of the numerous initiatives undertaken by the Company to mark this achievement, yet another highlight were the two Exhibition Football Matches organized between Mohun Bagan and TFA and East Bengal and TFA.

With fans occupying the JRD Tata Sports Complex in huge numbers, the match between Mohun Bagan and TFA was a thrilling one with a tough fight put up by both sides. Eventually, Mohun Bagan came out victorious after they defeated TFA (Score: 3-2). The second match was won by East Bengal (Score: 2-0) which took place over the weekend on October 14, 2007.

The Founder of Tata Steel, Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata had envisaged not only Asia's first fully integrated Steel Plant but also the model township of Jamshedpur. He had advised his son, Sir Dorab Tata, to earmark "areas for Football, Hockey and Parks…." Tata Steel's commitment to sports, precedes the building of the township. Today as the Company has completed 100 years of its glorious existence, the guiding philosophy through the last century has been J N. Tata’s vision of inculcating sports as an integral part of Tata Steel’s corporate philosophy. The two Exhibition Football matches organized are a part of the Centenary celebrations and speak volumes about the encouragement given to sports by the Tata group. Tata Football Academy is a premier football academy that has been in the lime light for many years. Last year they qualified for Sr. National Football League. TFA known for producing quality footballers is a hunting ground for most premier football clubs for signing up players for their teams.

The occasion was graced by the Sri V.N. Pandey, Chairman Jharkhand State Electricity Board who was the Chief Guest on October 12, 2007 and National Referee Mr. S K Dey was in-charge of the match. Sri Sudhir Mahato, Honourable Deputy Chief Minister, Jharkhand was the Chief guest on October 14, 2007 for the match between East Bengal and TFA.

The matches organized as a part of the celebration is just another initiative in the long tally of numerous activities that are planned through the year till August 26, 2008.

About Tata Steel

Established in 1907 as Asia’s first integrated private sector steel company, Tata Steel today is the world’s sixth largest steel producer with geographic footprints in India, South East Asia, UK and Europe. With the recent acquisition of Corus Limited, the combined enterprise has a crude steel capacity of 25.6 million tonnes with over 84,000 employees across four continents.

Apart from being a global entity, sports has always been a priority within the corporate philosophy of Tata Steel. It is part of this very same commitment that Tata Steel set up the Tata Steel Sports Foundation. It was to inculcate among the young men and women of India the sporting spirit, the zeal to excel, to win, and above all the discipline and dedication that brings out the winner in the individual. The Tata Football Academy, conceived in 1983 and inaugurated in 1987, is but one intrinsic component of the Tata Ideal manifested in reality.