“Kheleo”, a clouded leopard, will be the official mascot of the upcoming FIFA U-17 World Cup, which was unveiled in New Delhi on Friday. This will be the first FIFA tournament that will be hosted by India in October this year.

The Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Vijay Goel also flagged-off a school sports outreach programme to create awareness about football called Mission XI Million. The programme is backed by the All India Football Federation and the government.

Joy Bhattacharjya, Project Director at the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of FIFA U-17, said the outreach programme aims to reach out to 11 million children in about 15,000 schools in over 37 cities across all States.

“We are organising seminars for PE (physical education) teachers and educators, conducting in-school activities and football festivals under this initiative. The idea is to influence educators, instill passion among kids and create awareness about football at the grassroot level,” he added.

Keeping in mind the infrastructure available in the country, the focus is on organising small-sided games.

Commercial partners

Meanwhile, after Bank of Baroda, the LOC is in advanced stages to rope in more brands as commercial partners, also known as national supporters, to back the World Cup, in addition to global sponsors that include Coca-Cola, Adidas, Hyundai, Visa, Wanda and Gazprom.

Overall, the committee of the tournament is hoping to rope in six national supporters or brands as partners.“We are in advanced stages of talks with two-three brands. Overall, we are looking at roping in six brands as national supporters,” he said.

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