MDFA’s Republic Day Cup 2018 returns

by Chittu Shetty January 22, 2018

Republic Day Cup also known as Nitu Mandke Invitation Cup organised by Mumbai District Football Association (MDFA) will kick off on 25^th January.

One of the two regular annual cup events from MDFA – Republic Day Cup, other being Independence Day Cup, will kick off on 25^th January with the final on 26^th January i.e. Republic Day.

This time, 16 teams involving the likes of Air India, Dena Bank, Bank of India and others will be vying for the cup. The eleven side event is one of the few cup events in which lower division clubs get to ply their trade against top teams of the city. The two day event will be directly a Knockout with the Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals and the Final to be held on the next day.

Held in the honour of late Dr. Nityananda Mandke, one of the India’s finest Heart Surgeon, the tournament was started by MDFA, back in the year 2004, in recognition of his notable contribution to the city as well as country. Mandke was boxing champion, captain of soccer team and a record holding distance runner, during his college days. He was adjudged the best all round student of Pune University during the year 1970.

The Tournament was previously won by Air India U19 side in the year 2017 while in 2016 former I-League team Mumbai FC’s U20 side lifted the cup.

With the schedule of MDFA already in tangles courtesy of record third division teams participants, The Republic Day Cup has been truncated to just two days this time with teams playing a 20 minutes each half. To add more about the technicalities, the match will allow rolling substitutes and in the case of a draw, the match will directly head to penalty shootout.

The schedule for the tournament is below:
MDFA’s Republic Day Cup 2018 returns
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