BENGALURU: The cream of Bengaluru's young football talent will be on display at the Bangalore Football Stadium starting next week with Bengaluru FC announcing the launch of the third edition of their inter-school tournament here on Tuesday.

While the inaugural tournament had 32 teams, the new edition of the Boost-BFC Inter-School Soccer Shield, beginning on January 23, will feature 60 teams across Under-10, U-12 and U-14 age groups. The winning teams from each category will earn a three-day training course with BFC's youth coaches.

Addressing media persons, BFC coach Albert Roca said the difference between young footballers in India and abroad is that the latter get to play a lot of matches at a young age. "It's very important for kids to play matches and tournaments. If you compare a kid in India and in Spain that is the main difference," Roca said.

Citing the examples of Prashanth Kalinga and Leon Augustine, who graduated into the BFC reserves after coming through the club's academy, Roca said the tournament also provides the Blues a big opportunity to scout for talent who can be added to the youth ranks. "This (focus on youngsters) is an important step for Indian football. The present results are important but the focus should be on the future for Indian football to grow," the Spaniard added.

India skipper Sunil Chhetri encouraged the kids to give their best performance in the 10-day meet. "It's a great platform to get noticed. Make the most of it as it's a huge opportunity," the striker said, adding that during his school days the only big football tournament was the Subroto Cup.

Rising BFC player Kalinga said he was lucky to get inducted to the academy from its start. "I studied in St Mira's High School before joining the BFC academy. It has been a great learning experience and now I have made it into the reserve team," said Kalinga, who is also in the BFC squad for the Indian Super League and the AFC Cup.

The tournament will also feature several development initiatives such as the coach education program, a referees' course along with seminars to educate children and parents on various aspects of the sport like nutrition and psychology.

