Etihad from Hyderabad qualify for Red Bull Neymar Jr’s Five 2020 National Finals

09-03-2020 Mon 17:53 | National | Press Release

The city qualifiers kicked off from 15th February and will go on till 8th March; followed by the national final in April 2020
A step closer to represent the country at the World Finals in Brazil and meet their idol Neymar Jr

Hyderabad, 9th March 2020: Red Bull Neymar Jr.’s Five, a globally established five-on-five football tournament kicked off the Hyderabad city qualifiers at HotFut, White House - Block 3, 10th Level Terrace, Greenlands Rd, Begumpet, Hyderabad on 8th 2020. The city qualifier witnessed 100 teams giving their best. In the final match, Etihad played Stallions and won the game 3-0 to grab a place and represent Hyderabad in the national finals in April 2020.

Red Bull Neymar Jr’s Five 2020 city qualifiers started from 15th February till 8th March across 18 cities in the country including Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Goa, Indore, Delhi, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Guwahati, Kolkata, Aizawl, Shillong, Bhubaneswar, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Kochi. Indore and Lucknow are the new cities added to the roster of city qualifiers, this year. The winning teams will then compete at the Red Bull Neymar Jr’s Five national finals in April 2020 for a chance to make it to the Red Bull Neymar Jr’s Five 2020 World Finals in Brazil in July. It is the biggest 5-a-side football tournament in the country in terms of locations & participants.

Red Bull Neymar Jr’s Five is the Brazilian star’s signature five-a-side tournament bringing players aged 16 to 25 from all corners of the world together to celebrate their shared passion: football. It is a fast, technical and fun competition which sees two teams of five players, sans a goalkeeper, has 10 minutes to strut their stuff and win a chance to impress Neymar Jr. The twist in this thrilling affair is that for each goal scored by a team, a member of the opposition will have to leave the field. The team with the maximum players takes the spoils.

Match Results: Hyderabad Qualifiers

Semi-Final 1:

Kalinga vs Etihad (Etihad defeated Kalinga 1-0 by golden goal rule)

Semi-Final 2:

HFA vs Stallion (Stallion defeated HFA 5-0)

Final:

Etihad vs Stallion (Etihad defeated Stallion 3-0)

Etihad won the Hyderabad Qualifiers and will now represent Hyderabad in the Red Bull Neymar Jr’s Five National Finals in April

Winning Team members: Sayyed Yousuf, Syed Abbas Anas, Raja Debnath, Mohd. Khaled Mehdi, Syed Abdul Nayeem, Mohd Zakir, Mohd Ahmed Talha

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, as it did for Neymar Jr. In the streets, their main obstacles are not the opposing defenders but the hard gravel, sweltering heat, and the blinding dust. Most legends started out on a mere, obstacle-filled street, but turned the mere street into a path. A path to blinding success. Just ask Pele, Alfredo Di Stefano or Neymar Jr. Neymar Jr’s journey started with a street and a dream and continues with a stadium and a fairy-tale.

Last year, in July, Red Bull Neymar Jr’s Five 2019 India Champions, Kalina Rangers from Mumbai represented India at the World Finals in Brazil and gained valuable experience with a historic win against Hungary, who was eventually crowned winners of the tournament. Unfortunately, their tournament ended at the group stage following a draw against Luxembourg and heart-breaking defeats against Spain and Angola. Team India (Anthony Machado, Tyson Periera, Henderson Dias, Rayyan Shaikh, Craig D’Souza, Melvin Barboza and Charnel D’Almeida) the winners of the National finals of Red Bull Neymar Jr’s Five in Kolkata fought hard at the World Finals and have taken invaluable experience of being part of the largest 5-a-side football competition in the world.

Last year, the signature football tournament saw more than 1,00,000 players taking part in 40 countries across 6 continents with the hope of making it all the way from the qualifiers to the World Final in July at the Instituto Projeto Neymar Jr in Praia Grande, Brazil and won by Hungary

As a part of the Global consumer activation from March to June, Red Bull Neymar Jr’s Five is looking for the best seven players from all around the world: Jr’s Global Five. To participate, players have to upload a max 60 sec Instagram video showcasing their skills using #outplaythemall, tagging @redbullneymarjrsfive and mentioning their home country. Six players will be selected by a global jury of football professionals, the 7th spot is a wildcard handed out by Neymar Jr himself. Jr’s Global Five competes in Brazil at the World Final, playing in the same competition as the National Champions from 40+ countries.