Subroto Cup

The Subroto Cup International Football Tournament is a prestigious international inter-school football tournament that is held in New Delhi, India. The tournament held annually since 1960, is named after the Indian Air Force Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee. It is the oldest national school football tournament in India and was instituted to promote and encourage the sport at the grassroots level in the country.^[1] Students from different countries across Asia participate in this tournament, making it one of the more noteworthy school-level football competitions.

Subroto Cup

Organising body	Air Force Sports Control Board
Founded	1960; 65 years ago (1960)
Region	India
Current champions	Junior: T.G. English School, Manipur Sub-Junior: Nongjri Presbyterian Secondary School, Meghalaya Girls Junior: Mother International School, Jharkhand
Most successful club(s)	Junior: Madhyamgram High School, West Bengal (7 titles) Sub-Junior: Greenwood School, Nagaland (3 titles) Girls Junior: Krida Shiksha Protishtan, Bangladesh (3 titles)
Television broadcasters	SportsCast India (YouTube)
Website	subrotocup.in
2025

History

Subroto Mukerjee conceived the idea in 1958 when he was the Chief of the Air Staff. Subroto Mukerjee Sports Education Society was formed in 1960^[2]

Organisation

The Subroto Cup is conducted by the Indian Air Force, with the help of Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports.^[3]

Tournament structure

The current tournament structure consists of the preliminary inter-school tournaments at different divisional levels culminating in the inter-school finals at the state level. The winners then participate in the main national tournament.^[4]

Subroto Cup Football Tournament
Round	Level	Tournament
Main	National	Subroto Cup
Preliminary	State	State Subroto Cup
Preliminary	Division	Division Subroto Cup
Preliminary	District	District Subroto Cup
Preliminary	Sub-Division	Sub-Division Subroto Cup

Venues

The venues for the tournament held at New Delhi:^[5][6]

• Ambedkar Stadium
• Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium
• Tejas Football Ground (Race Course)
• Subroto Park

International Participation

School teams from numerous countries have played in the tournament, with the first team reaching the final in 1993 being the Special Sports School from Uzbekistan.^[7] Since then many schools from foreign countries take part regularly, such as Brazil, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Nepal, Ukraine, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan etc.^[1][8]

In the 2015 Championship, for the first time teams of boys and girls came from Afghanistan for the tournament.^[9] Brazilian legend and football's elder statesman Pele came to India after a gap of 38 years to attend the final of the 56th edition of the Subroto Cup as the chief guest.^[10] In 2016, Rivaldo and Roberto Carlos were the chief guests at the 57th edition.^[6]

Results

Junior (U–17)

The following is the list of winners and runners-up:^[7]

Year	Winners	Score	Runners-Up	Ref
1960	DAV HSS Daryaganj, Delhi and DAV HSS Chitragupta Road, New Delhi	0–0	–
1961	Rani Rashmani High School, Calcutta, West Bengal	2–0	Gorkha Military HSS, Dehra Dun, Uttar Pradesh (now Uttarakhand)
1962	The tournament was not held due to Indo-China War
1963	Batanagar High School, Calcutta, West Bengal	4–2	Rani Rashmani High School, Calcutta, West Bengal
1964	Gorkha Military HSS, Dehra Dun, Uttar Pradesh (now Uttarakhand)	1–0	Anjuman-i-Islam, Bombay, Maharashtra
1965	Shri KAB Vidyalaya, Hazaribagh, Bihar (now Jharkhand) and Gorkha Military HSS, Dehra Dun, Uttar Pradesh (now Uttarakhand)	0–0	–
1966	Government HSS, Car Nicobar, Andaman & Nicobar Islands	2–0	S.S.S., Jalandhar, Punjab
1967	Government HSS, Car Nicobar, Andaman & Nicobar Islands	1–0	Government HS, Kohima, Nagaland
1968	PKA Institution, Calcutta, West Bengal	1–0	Government HS, Mokokchung, Nagaland
1969	Gorkha Boys Company, Dehra Dun, Uttar Pradesh (now Uttarakhand) and Government HSS, Car Nicobar, Andaman & Nicobar Islands	1–1	–
1970	Gorkha Boys Company, Dehra Dun, Uttar Pradesh (now Uttarakhand)	2–1	Gorkha Military HSS, Dehra Dun, Uttar Pradesh (now Uttarakhand)
1971	The tournament was not held due to Indo-Pak War
1972	PKA Institution, Calcutta, West Bengal	2–0	Gorkha Boys Company, Dehra Dun, Uttar Pradesh (now Uttarakhand)
1973	Sir G.D. Patliputra HS, Patna, Bihar	2–0	Tombisana HS, Imphal, Manipur
1974	Sir G.D. Patliputra HS, Patna, Bihar and PKA Institution, Calcutta, West Bengal	0–0	–
1975	PKA Institution, Calcutta, West Bengal	1–0	Sir G.D. Patliputra HS, Patna, Bihar
1976	Netaji Sikshayatan, Agarpara, West Bengal	1–0	PKA Institution, Calcutta, West Bengal
1977	Adarsh Seva Vidyalaya, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh	1–0	Government HSS, Car Nicobar, Andaman and Nicobar Islands
1978	St. Anthony's HSS, Shillong, Meghalaya	1–0	Madhyamgram High School, West Bengal
1979	Ibemcha HSS, Manipur	1–0	Government HSS, Kokrajhar. Assam
1980	Ibemcha HSS, Manipur and Government High School, Dimapur, Nagaland	0–0	–
1981	Madhyamgram High School, West Bengal	2–1	Government High School, Dimapur, Nagaland
1982	Madhyamgram High School, West Bengal	1–0	St. Ignatius High School, Gumla, Ranchi, Bihar (now Jharkhand)
1983	Madhyamgram High School, West Bengal	2–1	Aizawl High School, Mizoram
1984	Government HSS, Car Nicobar, Andaman and Nicobar Islands	1–0	Government High School, Dimapur, Nagaland
1985	Madhyamgram High School, West Bengal	1–0	Government High School, Dimapur, Nagaland
1986	Government HSS, Kokrajhar, Assam	2–0	R.K. Mission School, Arunachal Pradesh
1987	No.1 Goa Naval Unit NCC, Panaji, Goa	1–0	No.6, Bengal Battalion Bongoan, NCC Kalyani, West Bengal
1988	Madhyamgram High School, West Bengal	4–0	R.K. Mission School, Arunachal Pradesh
1989	Adarsh Seva Vidyalaya, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh	0–0 (2–0 p)	Madhyamgram High School, West Bengal
1990	St. Ignatius High School, Gumla, Ranchi, Bihar (now Jharkhand)	0–4 (6–4 p)	Arya Vidyapith HSS, Guwahati, Assam
1991	Sports College (now Guru Gobind Singh Sports College), Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh	3–0	Bidhan Nagar Government High School, Calcutta, West Bengal
1992	Arya Vidyapith HSS, Guwahati, Assam	2–1	Christ College, Cuttack, Orissa
1993	St. Ignatius High School, Gumla, Ranchi, Bihar (now Jharkhand)	0–0 (4–3 p)	Special Sports School, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
1994	Sports College (now Guru Gobind Singh Sports College), Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh	0–0 (5–4 p)	Bidhan Nagar Government High School, Calcutta, West Bengal
1995	Madhyamgram High School, West Bengal	3–0	Sports College (now Guru Gobind Singh Sports College), Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
1996	Madhyamgram High School, West Bengal	0–0 (3–2 p)	Ort Netanya, Israel
1997	Sukantanagar Vidyaniketan, Calcutta, West Bengal	1–0	Central High School, Imphal, Manipur
1998	Mamata Modern High School, Delhi	1–1 (5–3 p)	Christ College, Cuttack, Orissa
1999	Government Boys High School, Shillong, Meghalaya	1–1 (6–5 p)	Sukantanagar Vidyaniketan, Calcutta, West Bengal
2000	Rangadih High School, Purulia, West Bengal	1–0	Army Boys Company, Danapur, Bihar
2001	Government Boys High School, Mizoram	2–0	Army Boys, Bangalore, Karnataka
2002	Bokaro Secondary School, Sector IV-E, Jharkhand	1–0	Apex Public School, Sant Nagar, Delhi
2003	Oxford High School, Mizoram	1–1 (4–2 p)	Government HSS, Car Nicobar, Andaman and Nicobar Islands
2004	BSL IV E High School, Bokaro, Jharkhand	1–1, 1–0 (a.e.t.)	Government Senior Secondary School, Dimapur, Nagaland
2005	Nobel Academy, Kathmandu, Nepal	1–1, 4–4 (2–1 p)	Government Model High School, Chandigarh
2006	Nobel Academy, Kathmandu, Nepal	5–0	Higher Secondary School, Agartala, Tripura
2007	National Cadet Corps, Aizawl, Mizoram	1–0	Sagarbhanga High School, Durgapur, West Bengal
2008	Boys Sports Company, Bangalore, Karnataka	2–1	Govt. HS School, Mizoram	[11]
2009	SAI Eastern Centre, Kolkata, West Bengal	1–0	Government Central School, Mizoram	[12]
2010	Government Mamit High School, Mizoram	1–0	Army Boys, Danapur, Bihar	[13]
2011	National Cadet Corps, West Bengal and Sikkim	2–1	Mynkhen Christian Higher Secondary School, Meghalaya	[14]
2012	Dynamo Kyiv, Ukraine	5–2	MSP Higher Secondary School, Malappuram, Kerala	[15]
2013	OM Roy Memorial, Shillong, Meghalaya	4–0	Magurmari High School, Kokrajhar, Assam	[16]
2014	Colegio Estadul Santo Antonio, Brazil	2–2 (5–4 p)	MSP Higher Secondary School, Malappuram, Kerala	[17]
2015	AIFF Academy	4–1	Little Angels Paradise Secondary School, Manipur	[18]
2016	Atlético Paranaense, Brazil	1–0	Army Boys, Bangalore, Karnataka	[citation needed]
2017	St. Columbus Collegiate School, Bokaro, Jharkhand	2–1	Army Boys Company	[19]
2018	Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protishtan, Dhaka, Bangladesh	1–0	Amini School, Afghanistan	[20]
2019	Hopewell Elias Higher Secondary School, Shillong, Meghalaya	1–0	Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protishtan, Dhaka, Bangladesh	[21]
2022	Pilgrim Higher Secondary School, Dimapur, Nagaland	1–0	Government Model Higher Secondary School, Chandigarh	[22]
2023	Government Model Higher Secondary School, Chandigarh	0–0 (5–3 p)	Amenity Public School, Rudrapur, Uttarakhand	[23]
2024	T.G. English School, Bishnupur, Manipur	1–1 (4–3 p)	Myngken Christian HS School, Ri-Bhoi, Meghalaya	[24]

Sub–Junior (U–15)

At the request of the School Games Federation of India, the Subroto Cup organisers started a sub-junior (11-14 Years) football tournament from 1998. Sixteens teams participated in the inaugural tournament, while more schools took part in the following years. Since 2000, the fairplay trophy for the sub-junior group has been named in the memory of late Lieutenant Sandeep Loomba, who died in a mountaineering expedition at Abi Gamin peak. Fairplay trophy for the junior group, medals and certificates for both the age groups, are provided by the Subroto Society

Year	Winners	Score	Runners-Up	Ref
1998	Bokaro Ispat Vidyalaya, Bokaro Steel City, Jharkhand	0–0 (a.e.t.) (5–4 p)	Electric Veng, Middle School, Aizawl, Mizoram
1999	ANFA Academy, Lalitpur, Nepal	3–0	Shri Kamlakar Chaubey Adarsh Seva Vidhyalay Intermediate College, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
2000	Bokaro Ispat Vidyalaya, Bokaro Steel City, Jharkhand	1–0	Galaxy Public School, Kathmandu, Nepal
2001	St John Bosco Boys Ups School, Sohra, Meghalaya	1–0	St Ignatius' High School, Gumla, Jharkhand
2002	Holy Heart School, Aizawl, Mizoram	2–1	Namchi Sports Hostel, Namchi, Sikkim
2003	Holy Heart School, Aizawl, Mizoram	1–0	Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protishtan, Dhaka, Bangladesh
2004	Gyanodaya Bal Batika School, Lalitpur, Nepal	4–0	Air Force Bal Bharati School, New Delhi, Delhi
2005	Army Public School Shillong, Shillong, Meghalaya	2–2 (a.e.t.) (5–3 p)	Nobel Academy of Higher Secondary School, Kathmandu, Nepal
2006	Allied Co-Education School, Kathmandu, Nepal	1–0	Government Model School, Chandigarh
2007	SAI Netaji Subhas Regional Centre, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh	1–1 (a.e.t.) (4–3 p)	Greenwood School, Dimapur, Nagaland
2008	Greenwood School, Dimapur, Nagaland	2–0	Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protishtan, Dhaka, Bangladesh
2009	Sukantanagar Vidyaniketan, Kolkata, West Bengal	1–0	Charity School, Kohima, Nagaland
2010	Government Model High School, Chandigarh	5–3	Hmar Veng High School, Kolasib, Mizoram
2011	Butwal Elite English School, Butwal, Nepal	1–0	Charity School, Kohima, Nagaland
2012	Greenwood School, Dimapur, Nagaland	3–1	Kalyangarh Bidyamandir, Kolkata, West Bengal	[25]
2013	Government Chawngfianga Middle School, Mizoram	3–1	Betkuchi High School, Guwahati, Assam
2014	Greenwood School, Dimapur, Nagaland	0–0 (5–4 p)	Government Model High School, Chandigarh	[26]
2015	Government Chawngfiang Middle School, Mizoram	3–2 (a.e.t.)	Lycée Esteqlal, Kabul, Afghanistan	[27]
2016	Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protishtan, Dhaka, Bangladesh	0–0 (a.e.t.) (4–2 p)	Government Model High School, Chandigarh
2017	Astaqlal Kabul, Afghanistan	2–0	Government Model High School, Sector 36, Chandigarh	[28]
2018	Unique Model Academy, Manipur	2–0	NCC Directorate, Odisha	[29]
2019	Saidan Secondary School, Mizoram	2–0	Unique Model Academy, Manipur	[30]
2022	Heirok Higher Secondary School, Manipur	2–0	Berwa High School, Jharkhand	[31]
2023	Minerva Public School, Kochi, Kerala	1–0	Chawngfianga Middle School, Saidan, Kolasib, Mizoram
2024	Nongjri Presbyterian Secondary School, Nongjri, Meghalaya	3–0	Major Dhyanchand Sports College, Saifai, Etawah, Uttar Pradesh	[32]

Girls Junior (U–17)

Year	Winners	Score	Runners-Up	Ref
2012	Oriental English School, Manipur	1–0	Government Mizo High School, Mizoram	[33]
2013	Radha Madhav Sanskrit Vidhyalaya, Nambol, Bishnupur, Manipur	1–1 (6–4 p)	Govt Senior Secondary School, Alakhpura, Bhiwani, Haryana	[34]
2014	Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Hisar, Haryana	3–0	Kiyang Kasiya Memorial Tribal School, Assam	[35]
2015	Girls Senior Secondary School, Alakhpura, Haryana	0–0 (5–3 p)	Chanambam Thambou Higher Secondary School, Manipur	[36]
2016	Girls Senior Secondary School, Alakhpura, Haryana	1–0	Sports School, Kohima, Nagaland	[37]
2017	Krida Shiksha Protishtan, Bangladesh	1–0	Government High School, Aizawl, Mizoram	[38]
2018	Krida Shiksha Protishtan, Bangladesh	1–0	St. Joseph's International School, Hisar, Haryana	[39]
2019	Krida Shiksha Protishtan, Bangladesh	4–0	Nilmani English School, Manipur	[40]
2022	St. Patrick’s, Gumla, Jharkhand	3–1	Wangoi Higher Secondary School, Imphal, Manipur	[41]
2023	St. Patrick’s, Gumla, Jharkhand	3–0	Girls Senior Secondary School, Alakhpura, Bhiwani, Haryana	[42]
2024	Mother International School, Ranchi, Jharkhand	4–1	Krida Shiksha Protishtan, Bangladesh	[43]

See also

• Junior National Football Championship
• Football in India
• Indian football league system
• Youth League
• History of Indian football
• Indian Arrows
• AIFF Elite Academy