PIFA Mumbai Lions finish fourth in Catalunya Cup 2013.

Premier India Football Academy (PIFA) organized their 31st Champions Tour from 18-29 June 2013 to Barcelona. This being their 10th year.

Catalunya's UEFA licensed coach Antonio Sánchez, one of the most qualified technical professional from the Spanish football youth academy, assisted by coach's Joseph Maria of the reputed Hristo Stoichkov Academy in Barcelona trained the campers for 5 days at a five star resort in the mountains of Seva. They visited Nou Camp stadium and FC Barcelona Museum during their stay here.

The campers then moved to Lloret de Mar, a Mediterranean coastal town on the Costa Brava. A beautiful and lively beach town.

The boys participated in the Catalunya Cup 2013. Two teams were enrolled - the U11 & U19 both boys team. The U19 boys  finished 5^th in the tournament but the star of the tournament were the U11 boys.

The U11 team category was 7 a side and had 15 teams representing Germany, Ukraine, Egypt, Italy, France, Canada, Russia, Jordan, Spain & India. The PIFA-Mumbai Lions beat PGS Alessandria (Italy) 5-0, Portazgo SD (Spain) 2-1, Sports Academy SAI (Egypt) 4-0 and lost to the eventual cup winners Sokol Sports School 2-5 in their group stage.

The final stage, the team beat Dresdener SC (Germany) 3-1 to enter the semi -finals where fatigue got the better of this small squad of only 7 players to lose to Canada A.A (Canada). The team then lost  3rd place to Ednist (Ukraine) in a penalty shoot-out (6-7).

It was a fabulous performance by these young boys who had trained with PIFA for four months prior to this tournament  in Mumbai.  Arhan Khan, Shubhan Nadiadwala, Shaan Chhadva and Atulya Agarwal were outstanding for the U11 as were Dashyanng Kachru, Karan Patel, Yasheel Shah & Neel Shah for the U19 boys.

Bollywood star Malaika Arora Khan was present and supported the young Mumbai Lions through the competition.

The children visited the water park on the last day.

All campers were awarded a camp certificate and a football. Talented campers were invited to play for the PIFA teams.

The camp open to children between 9-18 years of all abilities, it is designed to develop children into better players, understand the diet & healthy habits of professional players and to understand the foreign culture.