Nehru Cup


The Nehru Cup was an international association football tournament organised by the All India Football Federation, named after the First Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. 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 before officially being held last in 2012 and was replaced in 2017.

TV coverage

1st Nehru Cup was covered by Prabir Roy with a 5 on-line camera operation. This was long before Doordarshan started the same during the Delhi Asian Games in November 1982. It was inaugurated by Indira Gandhi. This was apparently the first Color T.V. coverage.

Absence, revival and replacement

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 former coach of India 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. The 2007 Nehru Cup took place from 17–29 August 2007 with Syria, Kyrgyzstan, India, Cambodia and Bangladesh as participating nations where India won their first title after hosting it for the last couple of decades 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 Bhaichung Bhutia.
2009 Nehru Cup took place in New Delhi from 19 August – 31 August 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. India defeated Syria by 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the final on 31 August 2009.
The 2012 Nehru Cup was the 15th edition of the Nehru Cup and 3rd Nehru Cup since it was revived in 2007. It was held from 22 August to 2 September. The tournament was hosted in New Delhi, India. A total of 5 teams participated in the tournament through being invited by the All India Football Federation. The final match happened between India and Cameroon B and India won the match in penalty shoot out 5-4 after the match ended 2-2 after 120 minutes of play.
Hopes to have another tournament in 2014 were shelved in August 2014 due to the AIFF not being able to pursue capital investment.
AIFF revealed on 17 May 2016 that it plans to replace Nehru Cup with a new Champions Cup.

Results

Medal summary