As a part of its continued commitment toward promoting sports in India, the Tata Group announced its sponsorship of the sixth edition of the Indian National Football League (INFL), India’s premier football tournament.

The League commenced on December 12, 2001, and will go on till April 15, 2002. The tournament will herewith be named the Tata National Football League till the completion of the 2001-2002 season.

The country’s top 12 teams, namely, East Bengal, Mohun Bagan, Churchill Brothers, FC Kochin, Vasco, Salgaoncar, Mahindra United, Tollygung Agragami, JCT, ITI, Punjab Police, and HAL are to compete with each other on a home-and-away basis, making for a total of 132 matches. The winning team will take home a prize money of Rs 40 lakh.

Ten rounds of matches have already concluded and the 11th round of matches will begin on February 20, 2002. Currently, Mohun Bagan, Mahindra United, Salgaoncar and ITI are positioned at the top of the table.

The matches will be played in six venues, namely, the Salt Lake Stadium and the Rabindra Sarobar in Kolkata, the FA Stadium in Bangalore, the Cooperage in Mumbai, the Nehru Stadium in Goa, the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi, and the Guru Gobind Singh Stadium in Jalandhar.

The excitement around the event is tremendous and 20,000 to 1,00,000 football fans are expected at the various sporting venues for each match.

On account of its enormous fan following, most of the INFL matches will be widely featured on Doordarshan, on either a live or deferred basis.