OST Sports Bureau
Cuttack, Jan 11:

FAO Academy team
The Under-14 Football Association of Odisha (FAO) Academy team will leave for New Delhi on January 12 to participate in the Manchester United Premier Club (MUPC) South Asian leg tournament-2014 beginning from January 14.

The team: Sk Sadaquat Ali, Sauni Marandi, Tapan Kumar Singh, K Rajesh Rao, Sk Kalam, Pintu Samal, Saroj Kumar Das, Pratyush Kumar Singh, Md Tohid, Bishal Oram, Deepak Kumar Barda, Sk Roshan, Priya Ranjan Nayak, Amar Oram, Chandan Kumar and Paresh Behera.

The 16-member team would be accompanied by coach Gyana Ranjan Behera and manager Suvendu Panda.

MUPC is a global youth football tournament established by Nike in 1993 as the Nike Premier Cup and featured 624 teams from 15 European countries. The following year, the tournament expanded into the Asian continent.

Over 8000 players from 43 countries are participating in the prestigious tournament.

The aim of this event is to popularize the sport at the grassroots level and encourage young talents by giving them an opportunity to participate in a global tournament and play against the top teams in the world.