MUMBAI: This is an initiative that gives Mumbai kids the opportunity to mimic the likes of David Beckham and Michael Owen.The ESPN Premier League Junior the inaugural Inter-School Soccer tournament has been flagged of at the RCF Sports Club, Chembur. The tournament will be played till 20 February. 16 Mumbai schools will participate in the EPLJ Trophy, which has been inspired by the English Premier League.

The Mumbai league is the third edition of ESPN Premier League Junior after Delhi and Kolkata. To bring the excitement of the EPL even closer - the names of all 16 teams participating in the championship are based on the names of teams from the EPL. After playing 24 league matches in four groups, two top teams from each group will qualify for knock-outclashes in the quarter finals.

The winning school will be awarded the EPLJ Gold Trophy. Spectators also get a chance to win interesting prizes. Randomly chosen spectators will be given a chance to shoot the ball into the goal from a zero angle to win on-the-spot prizes. There will be prizes for wearing players hairstyle and even a look-alike contest. Besides, there will be prizes for the Player of the tournament, Best Forward, Best Midfielder, Best Defender, Best Goalkeeper, Best Striker, and also a prize for the Best Fair Play team of the ESPN Premier League Junior to name a few.

The ESPN Premier League Junior is sponsored by Himalaya Chyavanprash. Perfetti are the co sponsors. MSN are prize sponsors, while Pepsi are beverage sponsors to ESPNs inter-school soccer league championships

The tournament was kicked off by Bollywood action hero Sunil Shetty. Among yesterday's happenings in Group C, St.Stanislaus school swamped Ryan International School 6-1 with Kenrick Ferns and Merwyn Fernandes scoring 3 goals each. Kenrick Ferns was named the player of the match. In the same group Cathedral & John Connon School got the better of OLPPS School by a 4-1 margin.