Joga Bonito Mumbai win Neymar Jr's Five, players set for Brazil trip

Joga Bonito Mumbai emerged champions of the Neymar Jr's Five football tournament, which spanned across 14 cities and saw participation from over 2600 teams.

Joga Bonito Mumbai took away the winners' trophy after beating Kalinga Rangers FC Pune 1-0.

Anthony Machado, Johnson Dsilva, Mervin Stephen, Preetam Mahadik, Daniel Fernandes, Scott Dsouza and Pratik Kadam will now represent India in the World Finals 2018 at Instituto Projeto Neymar, Brazil, on July 21 and meet the Paris Saint Germain superstar in his own backyard.

The qualifiers took place across 14 cities including Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Goa, Delhi, Aizawl, Chandigarh, Guwahati, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kochi and Shillong.

Compared to 2420 last year, 2680 teams took part in the tournament this time.

Divided into five groups of three, each city champion faced two others in a league format.

In closely-fought last-four clashes, Joga Bonito Mumbai outplayed Joga Bonito Bangalore 5-0 and Kalinga Rangers FC Pune crushed Miggas FC Aizawal by a similar margin to reach the final.

Speaking about the third edition of the world finals, the Brazilian superstar said, "There are already more than 60 countries in this edition, which is a clear indication that the tournament is gaining prominence. It gives me immense pleasure to know, that tournament is helping young and budding footballers show off their skills on the global stage.