• Five Girls’ teams from different parts of India participated.
• Compassion FC – Goa, emerged as champions in the tournament held in Anantapur.

The first edition of Inspire Cup successfully completed on 9th July 2022. The Inspire Cup is a U16 girls’ football tournament, organized by Rural Development Trust’s Sport for Development sector Anantapur Sports Academy (ASA), in partnership with LaLiga, through its Foundation and its Women’s Football department. Inspire Cup which was held at Anantapur Sports Village in Ananthapuramu from 5th to 9th July 2022.

The tournament was conducted in Round Robin League and Knockout formats and witnessed 80 players from five teams competing against each other. Gajwal FC – Telangana, YSR Sports School team – Kadapa, Life Sports FC – Chennai, Compassion FC – Goa, and ASA Girls Team – Anantapur participated in the tournament.

Compassion FC – Goa and ASA Girls Team competed against each other in finals held on 9th July. With a score of 1-0 Compassion FC emerged as champions by defeating ASA Girls Team.

Talking about the tournament, Prakash Khatri, the coach of Compassion FC said, “The Inspire Cup is an opportunity for our team to gain exposure and compete with girls from various parts of the country. We are excited to bag the cup amidst tough competition. ” The winning team captain Vinoska Fernandez said, “I and the girls are happy to be part of this cup, we are grateful for the opportunity and I congratulate all the teams who participated for their performances and we look forward to the next edition.”

RDT- ASA believes that the Inspire Cup will fill the gap of the lack of good competitive platforms for U16 girls in football, and the tournament will encourage many girls to pursue football. Throughout the tournament, various interactive sessions were organized between the teams to enable cultural exchange and share the challenges and opportunities for women in football in various places.

“We feel honoured to host this tournament for U-16 girls, especially when there are not many platforms available for U-16 girls to compete. We believe that there is a lot of potential in India, especially in football and this Inspire Cup gives girls the opportunity to showcase their skills. This tournament also facilitates cultural exchange between girls from different states, languages and cultures. We believe that this will further our efforts in increasing the football culture in India and using it for the development of individuals and communities. We thank LaLiga and FUNDACIÓN LaLiga for joining our efforts in making this possible,” said, RDT Sport for Development Sector Director, Sai Krishna Pulluru