Captain Abhishek Bachchan and vice captain Ranbir Kapoor have been sweating it out at a ground in Bandra with their filmi squad over the weekend. Their football team includes filmmaker Shoojit Sircar, actors Shabbir Ahluwalia, Vivian Dsena and Armaan Jain, businessmen-producers Raj Kundra and Sachiin Joshi and model-choreographer Marc Robinson. They will be taking on members of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), a wing of the Central Armed Police Force, from Maharashtra, Goa, Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, on Tuesday.

The actors have already played against the Indian cricket team and Members of Parliament to raise funds for charity last year. The team is a part of Narendra Modi's Mission XI Million campaign, a school-contact programme that aims at increasing the talent pool.

“It was our PM's desire that in the run-up to the Under 17 FIFA World Cup being held in India for the first time in October, 2017, the state police and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) organise football competitions. He wants celebs and students to promote the spirit of football and up fitness levels. Abhishek and Ranbir, who never say 'no' to an opportunity to be on the field, no matter how busy they are, immediately agreed,“ businessman-filmmaker Bunty Walia, who owns the team of the All Stars Football Club (ASFC), told Mirror, adding that the celebrity match will be the finale of the first tournament under the initiative. “There's another interesting line-up of matches beginning in July till September. The Bollywood squad promises to be in full attendance for the Under 17 World Cup too.“ The curtain raiser for the Mission Xi Million campaign, held on May 2, had the state Governor, Chennamaneni Vidyasagar Rao, and actors Farhan Akhtar and Nawazzudin Siddiqui cheering the cops.

Ranbir, who recently featured in the docu series, Girls With Goals, to create awareness and raise funds for an all-girls football team from Jharkhand and is coowner of the Mumbai Football Club, says, “Every sport should be encouraged, whether it is cricket, kabaddi or football. It's about the game and about how well it is marketed. In a tournament like this one, everyone from the sponsors and franchise owners to the players, want to put their best foot forward.“