Kalinga Super Cup to be held from January 9 onwards next year

New Delhi [India]: The Kalinga Super Cup will be organised in Odisha starting from January 9, 2024, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) announced.

The matches are planned to be held in two different venues in Odisha.

Both Indian Super League and I-League teams have been invited to take part in the annual tournament. The format of the tournament will consist of four groups of four teams each, who will play single-leg matches amongst themselves. The group winners will qualify for the semi-finals followed by the final to be played on January 28, 2024.

The I-League teams will play the qualifiers to get into the group stage of Kalinga Super Cup where four slots have been reserved for them in the group stage.

The Champions of Kalinga Super Cup will be nominated to play in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League two preliminary stage of the AFC 2023-24 season.

AIFF President Kalyan Chaubey said, “As per the decision we took earlier, the annual Super Cup tournament will now be organised in a bigger and broader perspective. The tournament will now be known as Kalinga Super Cup and will be played in Odisha in January 2024. This is a positive development for Indian domestic football. I am confident the Kalinga Super Cup will be a huge hit both in terms of organisation and spectator interest.”

Till date, three editions of the tournament have been held with the first one being in 2018. Bengaluru, Goa and Odisha have won a title each. In the last edition of the tournament this year, Odisha defeated Bengaluru by 2-1 in the final.