Kicked off over a month ago, Jharkhand’s popular community football tournament ‘Tata Kolhan Super League’ (formerly Tata Group Community Football Tournament) is all set to enter its most exciting and much-awaited phase—final rounds of matches.

Started on Sep 15, the tournament has drawn close to 30,000 players representing 1,800 teams from the hinterland, with matches already played across the length and breadth of Kolhan region.

Over 900 players representing 61 teams will be part of the action-packed final rounds that will be played in Open and Under-15 categories from Oct 25-29, at Chaibasa Stadium, in West Singhbhum.

In the last leg of the tournament, the teams will be clashing on a knock-out basis, with an eye on the finals to be played on Oct 29 at Chaibasa Stadium.

This tournament, aimed at nurturing budding footballers from the hinterland, is being organised by Tata Steel since 2011.

Of the various initiatives Tata Steel has undertaken to promote rural sporting talent, training of budding footballers at Under-10 football feeder centres has made a significant impact.

Trainees from these feeder centres have made it to the legendary Tata Football Academy (TFA), Army Boys Sports Company, Bihar Regiment Centre-Danapur, an infantry of Indian Army and sporting academies. Significantly, this month, three trainees—Sahil Kandeyong, Raja Banra (both from West Singhbhum) and Bikram Gagrai (Kalinganagar, Odisha) from Tata Steel-backed U-10 football coaching centres have been selected for Army Danapur Football Academy. Presently, around 750 youngsters are learning the nuances of football at these centres operating in Jharkhand and Odisha.