Nehru Cup

For the cricket competition, see Nehru Cup (cricket).

The Nehru Cup (more formally known as the ONGC Nehru Cup) is an international association football tournament organised by the All India Football Federation (AIFF). It was launched in 1982, but was not held from 1998 to 2006. After the trophy was won by Iraq in 1997, it was reinstated only in 2007.

The 2007 Nehru Cup International Football Tournament took place from August 17-29, 2007 with Syria, Kyrgyzstan, India, Cambodia and Bangladesh.

2009 Nehru Cup International Football Tournament took place in New Delhi from August 19 to August 31, 2009. After the participation of Palestine was cancelled by the AIFF, the tournament was changed into a round-robin format with five teams playing each other and the top two clashing in the final^[1]. India defeated Syria by 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the final on August 31, 2009.

Absence and Revival

The tournament was shelved after 1997 due to lack of sponsorship and other reasons. It was revived in 2007 mainly due to persuasion by the current coach of Indian national football team Bob Houghton. The original rolling trophy could not be recovered from Iraq, and a new trophy was designed.

The tournament held during 2007 was called the ONGC Nehru Cup, to acknowledge sponsorship from the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation.

India won the tournament defeating the much higher ranked Syria in the final by a 1-0 margin, on a goal scored by N. P. Pradeep in the 44th minute on a back pass from Baichung Bhutia.

Statistics

Year	Host	Final
		Winner	Score	Runner-up
1982 Details	Kolkata, India	Uruguay	2 - 0	China
1983 Details	Cochin, India	Hungary Olympic	2 - 1	China
1984 Details	Kolkata, India	Poland	1 - 0	China
1985 Details	Cochin, India	Soviet Union	2 - 1	Yugoslavia
1986 Details	Thiruvananthapuram, India	Soviet Union XI	1 - 0	China
1987 Details	Calicut, India	Soviet Union XI	2 - 0	Bulgaria Olympic
1988 Details	Siliguri, India	Soviet Union Olympic	2 - 0	Poland Olympic
1989 Details	Margao, India	Hungary XI	2 - 1	Soviet Union XI
1991 Details	Thiruvananthapuram, India	Romania B	3 - 1	Hungary
1993 Details	Madras, India	North Korea	2 - 0	Romania B
1995 Details	Kolkata, India	Iraq	1 - 0	Russia
1997 Details	Kochi, India	Iraq	3 - 1	Uzbekistan
2007 Details	New Delhi, India	India	1 - 0	Syria
2009 Details	New Delhi, India	India	1 – 1 (a.e.t.) 5 - 4 (Penalty)	Syria

Total Wins

Wins	Nations	Year
4 times	Soviet Union	1985, 1986, 1987, 1988
2 times	Hungary	1983,1989
2 times	Iraq	1995, 1997
2 times	India	2007, 2009
1 time	Uruguay	1982
1 time	Poland	1984
1 time	Romania	1991
1 time	North Korea	1993

References

1. ^ Palestine out; Nehru Cup to be a five team affair

External links

• IndianFootball.Com - India's premier football site
• http://www.rsssf.com/tablesn/nehru.html
• http://www.kolkatafootball.com/ongc_nehru_2007.html
• ONGC Nehru Cup (2009) Photo Gallery