Delhi's Avengers crowned national champions of Red Bull Four 2 Score 2024

Avengers will represent India at the Red Bull Four 2 Score 2024 World Final in Germany.

Widely considered as India’s footballing mecca, Kolkata witnessed a thrilling evening of edge-of-the-seat action at the Red Bull Four 2 Score India Finals. Held across a stunning setting at the iconic St. Paul Cathedral, the ten winning teams from ten city qualifiers – Wall Attack (Kolkata), Tenacious 5 (Pune), Avengers (Delhi), Blue Diamond Ernakulam (Kochi), Lincoln FC (Goa), PJP FA FC (Guwahati), Friend’s United (Bengaluru), FC Cecilians (Bhubaneswar), 404 Not Found (Lucknow) and BYB FC (Indore) – battled it out in Red Bull’s flagship 4v4 football tournament. Among them, Delhi’s Avengers stood the tallest, beating Goa’s Lincoln FC in a 1v1 tiebreaker after a 0-0 draw in the regulation 10 minutes in the grand finale.

Avengers, who qualified for the India Finals after beating stiff competition in Red Bull Four 2 Score 2024’s Delhi Qualifiers, are a tight-knitted group of friends represented by Sameer Lal (28, captain), Gaurav Lal (25), Aman Sharma (24), Mahip Adhikari (25) and Ayush Saini (24). After a win and three draws in Group A at the India Finals, Avengers finished group runners up and set up a semifinal clash against Indore’s BYB FC. After the regulation 10 minutes ended 0-0, the game was to be decided by a tiebreaker contested by one player from each team who will try to win a dropped ball, beat his opponent and score the winning goal. After a hard-fought tiebreaker, Avengers snatched the winning goal and set up a finale clash against Group A toppers – Goa’s Lincoln FC – who beat Bhubaneswar’s FC Cecilians 1-0.

A journey that started with nearly 1500 teams registering to participate in 10 cities across the country, the Red Bull Four 2 Score 2024 India finale clash proved to be an end-to-end affair as both sides were relentless in their efforts to score. However, it was encore for the side from Delhi as the tie ended 0-0 after the stipulated 10 minutes and a spot in the Red Bull Four 2 Score 2024 World Final was to be settled with a 1v1 tiebreaker. Having had the experience of the lottery of the tiebreaker in the semifinals, Delhi’s Avengers proved their mettle against Lincoln FC after Mahip Adhikari stood tall and grabbed the winning goal. The thrilling win meant Avengers were not only crowned National Champions but will also represent India at the Red Bull Four 2 Score 2024 World Final in Leipzig, Germany in August 2024.

Sameer Lal, captain of Avengers, said:

“We’re a group of friends who’ve been playing together for over 7 years now – in parks and sometimes in local Delhi-based tournaments. Over the years, we kept working hard and kept getting better. Our journey started in Delhi and now we’re here. To play in the World Finals, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us and it’s all because of football. It will be an amazing experience to play against teams from top countries like Spain, Brazil and of course, Germany. We started as an amateur team and we never imagined that we would be representing India one day. We could not have asked for more.”

“In 2020, we won the Delhi Qualifiers and made it to the National Finals but due to the pandemic, the tournament was called off. I think God had bigger plans for us. We’re lucky that Red Bull is doing what no other brand is doing – organizing a tournament like Four 2 Score at a global level, taking end-to-end care of teams like us and giving amateur footballers a chance to live their dream. I hope Red Bull keep organizing tournaments like these for the future generations as well – a big thank you to them!”

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