Kolkata witnessed the National Finals of Red Bull Neymar Jr.’s Five, a globally established five-on-five football tournament. The event was organized at Café Ekante, Eco Park, Eco Island, New Town, Kolkata. The National Finals saw city qualifier winners across the country giving their best to win the coveted Red Bull Neymar Jr’s Five 2019 National Champions title. The 4 teams in the semifinals were Kalina Rangers A from Mumbai, Friends United from Bangalore, Boom Boom F.C from Goa and Underdogs FC from Aizawl.

In the final match, Kalina Rangers A snatched a late win to finally break their final jinx and book a trip to Brazil in their third attempt to represent the country at the World Finals in July. Mumbai will now get an opportunity to represent India at the World Finals of Red Bull Neymar Jr’s Five 2019. India’s Goalkeeper and Red Bull athlete Gurpreet Singh Sandhu was also seen sharing his insights with the participants at the National Finals.
More than 3000 teams from around the country took part in this tournament with qualifiers held across 17 cities – Mumbai, Hyderabad, Goa, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Cochin, Pune, Chennai, Kolkata, Trivandrum, Guwahati, Calicut, Shillong, Delhi, Aizawl, Chandigarh and Jaipur.
Results:

Semi Finals 1: Kalina Rangers A from Mumbai beat Friends United from Bangalore 1-0 in the 1v1 tie breaker after scoreline in regulation time was 0-0
Semi Finals 2:Underdogs FC from Aizawl beat Boom Boom FC from Goa 1-0 in the 1v1 tie breaker after scoreline in regulation time was 0-0

Finals: Kalina Rangers A from Mumbai beat Underdogs FC from Aizawl 1-0 in the National Finals of Red Bull Neymar Jr’s Five 2019. They will now represent India in the World Finals in Brazil.

Winning Team (Kalina Rangers) Members: Anthony Machado, Tyson Periera, Henderson Dias, Rayyan Shaikh, Craig D’Souza, Melvin Barboza and Charnel D’Almeida.

The tournament is based on the belief that footballers never earn their skills in big stadiums at big clubs. Their journey almost always begins on the streets, with their friends, like it did for Neymar Jr.

The signature football tournament saw more than 1, 25, 000 people taking part across 62 countries and 6 continents in the Red Bull Neymar Jr’s Five 2018 World Finals last year. India constitutes of 20% of the total global participation in Red Bull Neymar Jr’s Five. The World Finals winners also get a chance to play against Neymar Jr and his friends and also get a chance to watch the PSG star play in Paris.