Sixteen U-19 football teams from Bihar will play a tournament next month in the run-up to the Fifa U-17 World Cup to be held in India this October.

The Patna frontier of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) will organise the tournament. Eight teams each of boys and girls will play the tourney from May 1-12.

This is an initiative of the central government to tap young and talented footballers around the country, and gave the central armed police forces the responsibility to organise the tournament. In Bihar, the work has been entrusted to the SSB.

The Bihar matches will be held at Patna's Patliputra Sports Complex. Two teams each (girls and boys) from Kendriya Vidyalaya, Kankerbagh, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Danapur, Delhi Public School, Patna, St Michael's High School, Patna, and clubs Patna XI and Munger XI will take the field. The remaining four teams will be of boys from School Games Federation of India (Samastipur and Bettiah) and girls from School Games Federation of India (Muzaffarpur and Siwan). The local clubs have been selected on recommendations by the Bihar State Football Association, which along with the Bihar State Sports Authority, will assist the SSB in organising the event.

"Total 32 matches will be played in the tournament and based on the performances, boys and girls teams will be constituted for Bihar," SSB deputy commandant Sanjay Kumar told The Telegraph on Sunday. "The players will be selected on the basis of recommendation of a four-member committee. It will have a representative from the SSB and three members related to the sports field."

The Bihar team would compete in zonal level tournaments and based on the performance, later at the national level. The final will be held in Delhi on July 25. The SSB official said the event would be organised every year as the aim is to provide a platform to budding footballers.