Your road to the Cup
Four dates for your team diary. Agnishikha Cup 2.0 brings sixteen women's teams to Purulia on 14 November 2026.
- Registration closesEnter through this website.
- Final sixteen announcedCheck whether your team is selected.
- Security deposits dueSelected teams pay the host club.
- Match day in PuruliaYour deposit is returned on arrival.
Bring your team
Any women's team in the open category can enter. School, college, club, village and workplace teams from any district and from neighbouring states are welcome.
- Every player must be 14 or over on 14 November 2026.
- Bring age proof for every player.
- Bring written parent or guardian consent for every player under 18.
How the sixteen are selected
If more than sixteen teams register, eight places are allotted first come, first served and eight are drawn by lottery from the remaining entries. Only teams registered through the official website are considered.
A refundable security deposit
₹2,000Per selected team · due 4 NovemberPaid directly to the host club
Turn up and you get every rupee back. A club representative returns the full deposit when your team arrives at the ground.
Cancel, for any reason, and the deposit is not refunded. A team that does not take the field concedes a walkover to its opponent.
A team that has not paid by 4 November loses its place, which is offered to the next team in line. The host club confirms the final list to the Foundation once all deposits are received.
The host club collects and returns this amount directly. The Hashtag Unnati Foundation does not collect it, nor any amount on the club's behalf, and is not party to or liable for these transactions.
If you are asked to pay the Foundation or an individual claiming to act for it, do not pay. Report it to abhijit@hashtagunnati.org.
Travel and food
Travel to and from the ground is each participating club's own responsibility.
The host club provides lunch, drinking water and light refreshments at the ground on match day for up to 20 people per team, including the squad and team officials.
What the Agnishikha Cup is
The Agnishikha Cup is an open women's football tournament in West Bengal, powered by the Hashtag Unnati Foundation. The inaugural edition brought eight teams to Bankura. Agnishikha Cup 2.0 moves to Purulia on 14 November 2026 and expands to sixteen.
It is the only open women's football tournament in India where the pitch leads to a certified career. Winning matters here, and so does what happens after the trophy is handed over: every player who wants it has a route into certified training and paid work.
The field is drawn from across districts, and teams from neighbouring states are welcome to enter. School, college, club, village and workplace sides all play in the same open category. Entry is free.
Agnishikha means flame. The name was chosen deliberately. The tournament exists because talent in these districts is not scarce — opportunity is. Girls from Adivasi and other marginalised communities play football on uneven ground, in borrowed boots, with no route from a good season to anything that changes their circumstances. The Cup is built to be that route.
Why Purulia
Purulia sits on West Bengal's western plateau, with one of the state's highest concentrations of Adivasi households and among its lowest rates of women in paid work. It is also a district where school and village football is genuinely alive.
That combination is the whole thesis. The playing culture already exists. What is missing is the structure around it — a competitive platform, a record of who can actually play, and a path to paid work for the players who will not turn professional, which is most of them.
Football is the entry point. The programme is the point.
A tournament that ends when the trophy is lifted changes very little. The Agnishikha Cup runs as three connected stages, with the same players at each one.
Play
An open, competitive tournament with proper officiating, kit and a real trophy. Sixteen teams in a straight knockout across two pitches, up from eight in Bankura.
Train
Players who want it enrol in the Connected Livelihood Programme — certified skills training built around health-sector roles that hire in this region.
Earn
Placement support after certification, so training turns into income rather than a certificate in a drawer.
Connected Livelihood Programme — launching soon
Learn, get certified, and work in healthcare
India's health and eldercare sector is short of trained hands, and the shortage is worst outside the metros. It is one of the few sectors where a young woman in a district town can train locally, earn a recognised certificate and be hired within months. That is where the Agnishikha Cup's training track points.
It runs as the Connected Livelihood Programme, launching soon — three stages that take a player from the pitch to a pay cheque.
Learn
Classroom and practical training in home-based care for the elderly — mobility support, hygiene, nutrition, vitals, medication routines, and dementia-aware communication. Taught locally, in Bengali.
Get certified
Assessment and certification on completion, so the qualification is portable and recognised by employers outside the district.
Get hired
Placement support into home care, clinics, and eldercare providers, with follow-up through the first months on the job.
Agnishikha Cup 2.0 — the details
| Edition | Agnishikha Cup 2.0 — Purulia Chapter |
|---|---|
| Date | 14 November 2026 (Saturday) |
| Venue | Purulia, West Bengal |
| Teams | 16 (2025: 8) |
| Format | Straight knockout, played across two pitches |
| Squad size | 11 |
| Who can enter | Open category. Every player must be 14 or over on 14 November 2026. School, college, club, village and workplace teams from any district, and from neighbouring states. |
| Entry fee | Free. Selected teams pay a ₹2,000 refundable security deposit to the host club. |
| Registration closes | 31 October 2026 |
Bankura, 2025 — glimpses from the first edition
The inaugural Agnishikha Cup was held in Bankura with eight teams. Doubling the field for the second year came from demand, not ambition.
Measurable impact
Indirect reach covers digital and local awareness across more than 300 villages.
Honours
| 2025 champions | Santu Eleven |
|---|---|
| 2025 runners-up | Bharati Adivasi Society |
| 2025 prize money | ₹50,000 total |
| 2026 prize money | To be revealed soon |
| Host, 2025 | Bankura |
| Host, 2026 | Purulia |
For individuals and corporates
We are building India's most prestigious open women's football tournament, one district at a time. Sixteen teams, one day, and a programme that follows the players from the pitch into certified training and into paid work — with the reporting to prove it.
The Agnishikha Cup is powered by the Hashtag Unnati Foundation, a pan-India not-for-profit that partners with individuals, corporates and institutions to turn purpose into measurable impact. It works across:
- Women's empowerment through sport
- Preventive healthcare, sanitation and nutrition
- Vocational skills and livelihood enhancement
- Education, digital learning and STEM skill development
- Climate action, environmental sustainability and clean energy
- Eldercare
The Foundation is an MCA-registered CSR Implementing Organisation (CSR Registration No. CSR00017026) and holds 12A and 80G registrations, so contributions can be made as CSR spend or as tax-deductible donations.
Register your team
Registration closes 31 October 2026
Entry is free. If more than sixteen teams register, eight places are allotted first come, first served and eight are drawn by lottery from the remaining entries. Only teams registered here are considered.
For individuals and corporates
Partner with us
There are two separate ways a company can support the Agnishikha Cup, and they are not the same instrument. Keeping them apart protects both sides — your auditor and ours.
As CSR or a donation
You fund a defined outcome: a training cohort, kit and medical cover for all sixteen teams, officiating and ground costs. The Hashtag Unnati Foundation is an MCA-registered CSR Implementing Organisation with 12A and 80G, so this can sit in your CSR allocation or as a tax-deductible donation.
Acknowledgement follows the rules for CSR: we credit you as a supporter, we do not sell advertising against it.
As brand partnership
Naming, backdrop and jersey presence, film and photography rights, an employee day at the ground. This is ordinary marketing spend, invoiced separately from any grant, because expenditure for marketing benefit does not qualify as CSR.
Companies often do both. They remain two agreements.
What you can support
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Title Partner
The whole tournament and one training cohort. The Cup carries your name, the trophy is presented by you, and you take film and photography rights alongside a full impact report. One per edition.
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Founding Partner, Connected Livelihood Programme launching soon
Funds the first cohort end to end: training, certification and placement for a named number of women drawn from the tournament. This is the only opportunity here that produces an employment outcome you can report against, and the first cohort can only have one founding partner.
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Match Day Partner
Covers the day itself — referees and officials, medical cover, the two pitches, water and refreshments, and the public lottery draw.
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Team Partner
Supports one of the sixteen teams with kit, boots and travel. Sized for a local business, an alumni group or an individual. Sixteen partners, sixteen teams.
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In kind
Boots and kit, medical supplies, transport, photography, ground equipment. Often the most useful contribution of all, and the easiest to arrange at short notice.
What every partner receives
- An 80G receipt, and a utilisation certificate for CSR contributions
- An impact report against named metrics — the same ones published for Bankura 2025: teams, players, districts, direct audience and reach
- Photography and film from the day
- A named point of contact through the build-up, the tournament and the reporting
Hashtag Unnati Foundation · CSR Registration No. CSR00017026 · 12A and 80G registered
abhijit@hashtagunnati.org · +91 82828 15077 · +91 98209 85380