The first ever RFYS Football National Championship will be etched in history as the advent of a sporting revolution in India. One of the first National Championship winners were the Junior Boys of Chowbaga High School, Kolkata. Fast forward to season 2018-19 and Chowbaga High School find themselves in a similar position.

They are the City Champions of Kolkata and unlike the first season, came through a difficult group in the East Zone 2 National Qualifiers to make it to the National Championship. A look back into their RFYS 2018-19 campaign so far gives an insight on how they are one of the favourites to go all the way this time around as well. They are unbeaten so far in the tournament, having played 10 matches. One of their most impressive accomplishments is that their defence doesn’t know how to concede, having kept 10 clean sheets so far. They boast of a near-perfect record as they scored 9 goals on their way to the National Championship. They were put to the test against Karbala High School, where the match was decided through a penalty shootout as a spot in the Quarter-finals was on the line. The test was cleared with flying colours and Chowbaga came out as 5-3 winners in the penalty shootout. The Quarter-Final was a cakewalk for them as they ran past Kankurgachi Vivekananda Vidyapith 2-0. Kalipur High School faced an upbeat Chowbaga team in the Kolkata City Championship semi-final, where the latter were on a goal-scoring spree, scoring four goal past their opponents and making their passage to the final. The only thing now between Chowbaga and the title was Gangadharpur Vidyamandir, who were in the National Championship last year. As the teams squared up at the Barasat Stadium in Kolkata, the match witnessed no goals up until full-time. Chowbaga High School again came out triumphant in the final by beating Gangadharpur Vidyamandir 3-1 in the penalty shootout and made their way to the East Zone 2 National Qualifiers. In the National Qualifiersr, their defence held its own as they swept through their opponents with a 1-0 score line in all three fixtures. A place in the National Championship was thus secured.

Chowbaga High School will face tough competition from teams like St. Anthony’s Higher Secondary School, Shillong and Maharana Pratap Sports College, Dehradun in the Natioanal Championship but the one thing that Chowbaga has that these two teams don’t is the experience of playing in a big final and winning it. As the clock for the National Championship countdown inches closer, Chowbaga High School will be raring to pounce on the opportunity to become the first team to lift the RFYS National Championship trophy twice.

32 best teams from the City Championships will be competing in Mumbai from 29th December – 7th January and all the matches of the National Championship will be live-streamed on our website and Facebook.