U-16 girls football team from Mumbai slums wins Dana Cup Trophy in Denmark

An U-16 girls football team from OSCAR Foundation won the Dana Cup 2019 Tournament in Denmark on 26th July 2019 - the second biggest youth football tournament in the world.

What makes this win special is that the U-16 girls’ team is comprised of players from Ambedkar Nagar slum in Mumbai and rural Jharkhand. The players on the team had faced gender discrimination in their communities and were saved from dropping out of school and early marriage because of their passion for football.

Ashok Rathod, Founder, OSCAR Foundation says, “Despite having limited access to resources such as nutrition, the girls have shown great courage and determination in the way they have played. Winning the trophy will inspire many other girls in the communities where we work.”

Between 21st to 27th July, the girls team played against four Norwegian teams Bjarg IL (4-2), Skedsmo FK (5-2), Brodd FK (9-2), Hei IL (5-1) and won all the four games before their final match with Toten FK.

OSCAR Foundation won their game against Toten FK 2-1 and went on to lift the Dana Cup.

“It’s a unique feeling. We had to put in a lot of hard work and we’re bringing home the trophy,” said Pooja Gautam. “We did this for our mothers and all the girls in our communities,” said Priya Rathod.

Anita Kumari from Jharkhand scored the highest number of goals in the tournament and was given the Best Player award.

Started in 1982, Dana Cup Hjørring is Denmark's largest sporting event with 90% foreign team participation. In the tournament’s 2019 edition, 1100 teams took on each other in seven-a-side games over a period of one week.

Names of players who represented India at Dana Cup Hjørring 2019: Mamta Prajapati, Priya Rathod, Pooja Gautam, Aarti Rathod, Priya Rajbhar, Anita Kumari, Sandhya Toppo, Soni Munda, Laxmi Kumari, and Chintu Kumari. Name of the coach: Anshu Kachhap.