Kalina Rangers to represent India in F5WC – World finals, in Cape Town

by Chittu Shetty September 8, 2019

Mumbai’s Kalina Rangers, one of the top 5 A side teams in the country, will be representing India, in F5WC (Football Fives World Championships) – World Finals in Cape Town

The F5 India 2019 (Football Fives) which is part of an international level football event (F5WC – Football Fives World Championships) was hosted by Zars Sports, a budding start up based in Mumbai. Entrepreneurs and sports enthusiasts Kimberly Fernandez and Nigel D’souza brought the event to India in 2019 and have hosted a series of qualifiers in cities like Mumbai, Goa and Bengaluru.

The 5-a-side football tournament for amateur footballers saw participation from teams that travelled from across the country to participate in the city level qualifiers hosted in select cities. Of these teams, Kalina Rangers from Mumbai, TI from Bengaluru, Falcons from Goa and Boom Boom Goa won the rights to play in the National Finals that was held in Bengaluru on the 31st of August 2019. Each team played 3 games as part of the league stage that then saw Team Goa (Falcons) play Team Bengaluru (TI) in semi final 1 and Team Mumbai (Kalina Rangers) play Team Anubhava (Boom Boom Goa) in Semi Final 2.

Team Goa advanced into the Finals as they beat Team Bengaluru by 3 goals to 1. The second semi final was a thriller that saw Team Mumbai score a last minute equalizer to take the game to penalties. Both teams were still in deadlock at the end of the 3 penalties which then went into sudden death with Mumbai taking the first kick. Mumbai was then leading 7-6 when Scott Moreas of Mumbai made a crucial save to send Mumbai into the finals. The finals were dominated by Mumbai as they finished strong with a 7-2 win over Team Goa.

Team Mumbai – Kalina Rangers will now represent Team India at the World Championships in Cape Town, South Africa, where they will contest against 38 countries in order to determine who will be crowned World Champions. The World Finals are scheduled to be held from the 31st of November to the 2nd of December 2019.

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