ONGC Nehru Cup International Football Tournament !

From it’s inception it was Nehru Cup but it was named on year 2007 as ONGC Nehru Cup International Football Tournament ,is a Football Tournament organised by All India Football Federation in which team from other countries take part. Nehru Cup was started in the year 1982 on yearly basis upto 1989 then after every two years from 1989 onwards till 1997, it was not played between 1998 till 2007 and in the year 2007 it again reinstated as ONGC Nehru Cup International Football Tournament 2007 held from 17th August to 29th August, 2007 and teams from Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Kyrgyzstan & Syria took part in the tournament and first time in the history of Nehru Cup India won the tournament after beating Syria in the final 1-0.
Nehru Cup International Football Tournament 2009 was held in New Delhi from 19th August, 2009 to 31St August, 2009 and after Palestine not allowed to play the tournament by the organised committee that is All India Football Federation so the format of the tournament changed to round robin basis and all the five participating countries played each other once and top two team of the tournament had to play for the title. The five teams of year 2009 tournament were Kyrgyzstan, India, Lebanon, Sri Lanka and Syria and this year Indian was playing to defend the title. All the Games played in the ONGC Nehru Cup International Football Tournament 2009 and there results mentioned below --

Game No.----------Game Played-----------Result--------Date
1--------------India v/s Lebanon-----------0 - 1-------19/08/09
2--------------Kyrgyzstan v/s Syria--------0 - 2------ 20/08/09
3--------------Sri Lanka v/s Lebanon------4 - 3-------22/08/09
4--------------India v/s Kyrgyzstan--------2 - 1------ 23/08/09
5--------------Syria v/s Sri Lanka----------4 - 0 ----- 24/08/09
6--------------Kyrgyzstan v/s Lebanon----1 - 1 ----- 25/08/09
7--------------India v/s Sri Lanka----------3 - 1------ 26/08/09
8--------------Syria v/s Lebanon-----------1 - 0-------27/08/09
9--------------Sri Lanka v/s Kyrgyzstan--1 - 4----- 28/08/09
10-------------India v/s Syria--------------0 - 1 ----- 29/08/09

India defeated Syria in the Eleventh Game which was Finals of the Tournament by 5-4 (penalty shootout) played on 31st August, 2009, and with this victory Indian football team get 40,000 U.S. Dollars as prize Money and Syria received 20,000 U.S. Dollars, Syria ranked 95 in the International Football Ranking while right now India is at 149.Vital role played by Indian Goalkeeper Mr. Subroto Pal who stop three penalties shootout goals and Captain of Indian Football team Mr. Baichung Bhutia was named as player of the tournament.Bollywood Actor Mr.Salman Khan who watched the match in the stadium and attached himself with Indian Football by becoming Brand Ambassador of Indian Football. He also declared that he will not take any penny for this from football authority of India.

Till date different countries who won Nehru Cup since it’s inception are below mentioned ----

Wins-----------Nations----------Year
4 times-------Soviet Union------1985, 1986, 1987, 1988
2 times-------India---------------2007, 2009
2 times-------Hungary-----------1983, 1989
2 times-------Iraq-----------------1995, 1997
1 time--------Uruguay------------1982
1 time--------Poland--------------1984
1 time--------Romania-----------1991
1 time--------North Korea-------1993

Top ten rankings plus countries which participated in the ONGC Nehru Cup tournament there present FIFA ranking is as follow ---

1-------Brazil--------------1604
2-------Spain--------------1588
3-------Netherlands------1376
4-------Germany---------1186
4-------Italy---------------1186
6-------Russia------------1129
7-------England----------1127
8-------Argentina--------1113
9-------Croatia-----------1101
10------France-----------1040
95------Syria------------ 353
146-----Kyrgyzstan---- 146
149-----India----------- 134
150-----Lebanon------- 132
158-----Sri Lanka------ 111

So In the tournament Countries ahead of world football ranking Kyrgyzstan and Syria, India after defeating them not defend there ONGC Nehru Cup international Football Tournament title but also prove that they are improving there football game with strategy and planning .