65th Subroto Cup 2026: 107 Teams Set for School Football
65th Subroto Cup to Begin on August 18 With 107 School Teams
The 65th Subroto Cup International Football Tournament will begin on August 18, bringing 107 school teams into competition across three age groups. Matches will be held in New Delhi NCR and Bengaluru until September 24, with teams from Indian states and Union Territories joined by international participation from Sri Lanka.
The tournament will feature Junior Girls Under-17, Sub-Junior Boys Under-15 and Junior Boys Under-17 football. More than 215 matches are scheduled across the three sections.
The announcement was made in New Delhi on Wednesday in the presence of Air Marshal S. Sivakumar VSM, Air Officer-in-Charge Administration and Vice Chairman of the Subroto Mukerjee Sports Education Society (SMSES). He attended as Chief Guest. Former India footballer Ashalata Devi Loitongbam was the Guest of Honour.
Air Marshal S. Sivakumar VSM said:
“The Indian Air Force and SMSES are committed to making the tournament bigger and better every year, providing a platform for young athletes to take the next step in their careers.”
He congratulated the teams that qualified and urged the players to compete in the spirit of sportsmanship.
The Subroto Cup has been part of India’s school football calendar since 1960. It was named after Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee, one of the early senior leaders of the Indian Air Force. The tournament has traditionally brought school teams together through a competition that gives young players experience beyond their state and school-level matches. The official tournament website records competitions involving schools from across India and international participation.
The 2026 edition will open in New Delhi NCR with the Junior Girls Under-17 category on August 18. That section will run until August 27. The Sub-Junior Boys Under-15 competition will move to Bengaluru from September 1 to September 9. The final phase, the Junior Boys Under-17 competition, will be played in New Delhi NCR from September 15 to September 24.
The opening ceremony is scheduled for August 18. The Junior Girls final will be played on August 27, followed by the Sub-Junior Boys final on September 9. The Junior Boys Under-17 final and closing ceremony are scheduled for September 24.
The venues in New Delhi NCR are Ambedkar Stadium, Tejas Football Ground, Subroto Park Football Ground, Pinto Park Football Ground and Rajokri Football Ground. In Bengaluru, matches will be held at Air Force School, Jalahalli, Air Force School, Yelahanka, and Subroto Football Ground, Jalahalli.
Age verification will be a specific part of the Under-15 competition in Bengaluru. An age-determination test is planned to make sure players meet the category rules. The step follows the tournament’s use of age checks in recent editions. In 2025, Minerva Public School of Mohali, representing the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), won the Under-15 title after beating Vidyachal International School of Bihar 6-0. Reports from that tournament said age verification was used during the competition.
The 2025 edition also produced two notable firsts for the winners listed for the 65th tournament. Farook Higher Secondary School from Kerala won the Junior Boys Under-17 title, beating Amenity Public School 2-0 in the final at Ambedkar Stadium. Takhellamba and Adikrishna scored for Kerala. The victory ended a 64-year wait for Kerala in the boys’ Under-17 competition.
Betkuchi High School of Guwahati, Assam, won the Junior Girls Under-17 title in 2025. It defeated Nandajhar Adibashi Pashili High School of West Bengal 3-1 in the final. The result was also a first for an Assam school in the girls’ section.
Minerva Public School, Mohali, was the Sub-Junior Boys Under-15 champion in 2025. The CISCE team scored six goals without reply against Vidyachal International School in the final at Air Force Station Yelahanka.
Those results give the 2026 tournament a clear sporting reference point. Farook Higher Secondary School, Betkuchi High School and Minerva Public School enter the new edition as the defending champions in the Junior Boys, Junior Girls and Sub-Junior Boys categories respectively.
The tournament’s structure also shows how school football can bring together teams from different parts of India. The 107 participating sides will represent states, Union Territories and educational bodies, while Sri Lanka provides the international entry. The 2025 competition included teams from places such as Assam, Kerala, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Lakshadweep, Sikkim, West Bengal and Sri Lanka, underlining the geographical spread of the event.
For the players, the 65th edition will provide several weeks of competition before the final match is played in New Delhi NCR on September 24. The three age groups also give the tournament a wide range of young footballers, from Under-15 players entering national-level school competition to Under-17 players seeking another major test before moving into senior youth football.
The first match is scheduled for August 18. The last trophy will be decided on September 24.
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