Tata Steel on Wednesday announced that five players from Jamshedpur FC, franchise owned by Tata Steel at ISl, have been selected for Indian National Football team. The selected players will be part of the national team for the upcoming Champions Cup to be held in Chennai from August 17- 27, 2017. The list of 5 players selected for the national duty are: Anas Edathodika, Defender, Subrata Paul, Goalkeeper, Bikash Jairu, Midfielder, Jerry Mawihmingthanga, Defender and Sumit Passi Striker
Speaking on the selection of the players, Sunil Bhaskaran, vice president, corporate services, Tata Steel said, “We would like to thank All India Football Federation for the selection of our players for the National Team. This opportunity will provide the players from our franchise to showcase their skills at the international arena. The opportunity will also help the selected players to gain more experience for our upcoming season of ISl.” The Champions Cup is a 4-nation tournament which will engage the Indian National Football Team along with 3 other teams from Africa. The players will be reporting at Chennai for a training session which is scheduled on August 11, 2017. The players will also participate in AFC Asia Cup 2017(Qualifiers) against Macau on September 5, 2017. Earlier, Tata Steel had successfully bid for the Jamshedpur-based franchise of the coveted ISl. Stephen James Coppell, popularly known as Steve Coppell, joined the franchise as the Head Coach along with player Ishfaq Ahmed as the assistant coach for the franchise. Tata Steel owned franchise have also drafted 15 players with big names like Anas Edathodika (Defender), Subrata Paul (Goalkeeper), Mehtab Hossain (Midfielder) and Souvik Chakraborti (Midfielder).