First-ever Indian Futsal Club Championship to be held in November
The All India Football Federation has announced that the first-ever Futsal Club Championship at a national level will run from November 5 to 13.
The tournament has been in the works since 2019 when the AIFF Executive Committee decided to start the competition. Technical Director Isaac Doru said:
"We at AIFF strongly feel Futsal should be a part of the National Planning agenda of football. I have found out that in certain states there is a huge passion for the game. That gives us the confidence to go deeply into the developmental process of Futsal and helping the State Associations with implementation of the strategic plan."
The COVID-19 pandemic, however, put a halt to the Futsal Championship plans. Earlier this year, AIFF decided to host the inaugural edition of the competition in Meghalaya but the pandemic played the devil once more. With the situation now seeming a lot better, the tournament is set to be held in New Delhi next month.
Inaugural edition of Hero Futsal Championship to kick-off in New Delhi on November 5
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16 teams will participate in the inaugural Futsal Club Championship. Bengaluru FC is the only ISL team who will be participating in the tournament. TRAU FC, Real Kashmir FC, Mohammedan FC and Sudeva Delhi FC are several I-League clubs who will be seen in action.
The tournament also marks the return of Sporting Clube de Goa to the national level. Clubs from Puducherry, Gujarat and Nagaland will be part of this inaugural edition of the tournament as well.
The Championship will be held across four groups of four teams each. The clubs will play each other in a round-robin format and the top-ranked side from each group will progress to the semi-finals.
The teams participating in this tournament are Baroda FC (Gujarat), Chanmari Zothan Futsal (Mizoram), Kuppuraj FC (Puducherry), Super Strikers FC (Karnataka), Speed Force FC (Telangana), Sporting Clube de Goa (Goa), Delhi FC (Delhi), Real Kashmir FC (Kashmir), Telongjem FC (Nagaland), Classic Football Academy (Manipur), Mangal Club (Odisha), Niaw Wasa United Sports & Cultural Club (Meghalaya), Bengaluru FC (Karnataka), TRAU FC (Manipur), Mohammedan SC (West Bengal), Sudeva Delhi FC (Delhi).