Football fever is rising in Chennai. With Vijay’s sports film Bigil up for release in less than two weeks, AGS Entertainment, the film’s producer, has partnered with Chennai City Football Club (CCFC) to conduct a knockout tournament in the city before the film can hit the screens.
A 64-team knockout tournament has been planned at the sports complex Tiki-Taka Velachery, for two days, on October 19 and 20. The five-a-side tournament (5 member teams) will see players from different parts of the state contest against each other.
The winner of the tournament will receive Rs 20,000 cash prize along with a trophy and Bigil merchandise. The first and second runners-up will receive Rs 15,000 and Rs 10,000 respectively along with trophies and merchandise.
We are happy to announce that registrations are open for the #BIGILFootballTournament in association with @ChennaiCityFC The champions of India.
— AGS Cinemas (@agscinemas) October 9, 2019
Register here: https://t.co/e0M9ZzRSZo #LocalFootball!@archanakalpathi @Ags_production pic.twitter.com/K26BJSIL4t
Abhiram Paleru, sponsorship sales manager at CCFC, tells TNM that they proposed the idea to AGS after seeing their Club’s logo in a video song from the film. “We noticed that in the 'Verithanam' song video that was released, Vijay is seen wearing our club’s logo on his shirt. We thought it’d be a great reason to partner with the Bigil team to promote local football,” he says.
CCFC, the present I-League Championship winners, are excited to be associated with Bigil, and say that they have received an overwhelming response for their tournament call. “We had over 220 registrations in less than 6 hours of tweeting the news. We had to turn off the registration link after a point and restrict selections to a first-come-first-serve basis,” says Abhiram.
CCFC has its roots in the Nethaji FC that was started in the year 1946. “Rohit Ramesh, one of the directors of The Hindu bought the club in 2013 and then it became Chennai City Football Club. In three years, it was promoted to enter the first division of the I-leagues,” says Abhiram.
Speaking about the club, he further adds, “Our main aim is to promote the game in the state. Generally people tend to associate Bengal, Goa, North-east Indian states for football but Tamil Nadu is a sleeping giant when it comes to the game. We’ve got players from very humble backgrounds who make it to big leagues in the country. That’s how good our players are.”
AGS Entertainment has also partnered with Chennayin Football Club (Indian Super League) and Sky Esports India to conduct a virtual FIFA Championship at Woot Gaming Lounge in Kochi on October 15 and at Archnemesis Gaming India, Chennai, between October 17 and 20.
Extremely happy to announce #BigilFifaChampionship in association with @skyesportsindia & @ChennaiyinFC
— AGS Entertainment (@Ags_production) October 11, 2019
A first of its kind partnership!
Register Here : https://t.co/4LsHjGk0Qa
Venue: Arknemesis (Chennai) & Woot Gaming (Kochi) @archanakalpathi pic.twitter.com/SKIPReJVh5
Bigil starring Vijay in the lead also has Nayanthara, Jackie Shroff, Kathir, Daniel Balaji, Yogi Babu, Sai Dheena, Vivek, Anandraj and others. The film has been directed by Atlee.