Puja paras to lock horns in Behala football tourney

Kolkata: Ahead of the theme puja fight, 16 city clubs that organize Durga Puja will lock horns in a two-day football tournament to be organised by Behala Club on March 22 and 23.
The invitational knockout football tournament — Behala Cup 2025 — supported by The Times of India, will be organised on the premises of Behala Club Durga Puja opposite Behala police station.
The puja organising clubs that will participate in the tournament are 41 Pally Club, 66 Palli Club, Ahiritola Jubak Brinda, Bakulbagan Sarbojanin Durgotsab, Behala 29 Pally, Behala Nutan Dal, Bidhan Sarani Atlas Club, Dum Dum Park Sarbajanin, Hatibagan Sarbojanin Durgotsav Committee, Kestopur Prafulla Kanan (Paschim) Adhibashibrinda, Netaji Jatiya Sebadal, Pally Unayan Samity Paschim Putiary, Sabarnapara, Barisha Sarbojanin Durgotsab Samity, Santoshpur Lakepally, Tarun Matri Sevak Samity and Ballygunge Cultural Association.
"On March 16, we held a meeting with the representatives of the teams and the matches for pre-quarter were decided following a lottery. Earlier, our club used to organise local tournaments and this is the first time we are organising the tournament for leading puja organising clubs," said Sayantan Bhattacharya, assistant secretary of Behala Club.
On the first day, the pre-quarters in which 16 teams will play will start at 4.30 pm and it will be followed by quarter-finals that will be played by eight teams. On the second day, the semi-finals will start at 6.30 pm. Two teams will battle it out in the final. On both days, the tournament will continue till 10 pm.
The event will be streamed live on the host club's social media handles, which have more than 37,000 followers. Besides, thousands of football fanatics are likely to throng the venue.