NEW DELHI: The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has declared that the second edition of the Hero Super Cup will be held entirely in the Odisha capital city, Bhubaneswar’s Kalinga Stadium.
The tournament was launched last year to determine the true champions of Indian football as the best of the I-League teams take on Indian Super League (ISL) teams. They are pitted against each other depending on their season’s performance and standings.
The Hero Super Cup will begin on 15 March with the first two days witness qualifying matches between teams ranked 7th to 10th in both the competitions. The winners of the four qualifying matches will progress to the final round starting 29 March and join the top 6 teams of both the competition in a knockout, Round-of-16 format.
Defending champions Bengaluru FC, who are at present battling in the Indian Super League semifinal against NorthEast United, will begin their Super Cup campaign against old I-League rivals Mohun Bagan on 31 March.
The final is scheduled to be held in the city on 13 April, just two days after the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections will begin, with Odisha being one of the states to vote.
The match schedule for the qualifiers for the Hero Super Cup is as follows:
15 March (5pm): FC Pune City vs Minerva Punjab FC (Qualifier 1).
(8.30pm): Kerala Blasters FC vs Indian Arrows (Qualifier 2).
16 March (5pm): Delhi Dynamos FC vs Gokulam Kerala FC (Qualifier 3).
(8.30pm): Chennaiyin FC vs Aizawl FC (Qualifier 4).
Round of 16:
29 March (8.30pm): Qualifier 4 vs Mumbai City FC (PQ1).
30 March (5pm): Qualifier 2 vs FC Goa (PQ2).
(8.30pm): Qualifier 3 vs Quess East Bengal (PQ3).
31 March (5pm): Mohun Bagan vs JSW Bengaluru FC (PQ4).
(8.30pm): Qualifier 1 vs Chennai City FC (PQ5).
1 April (8.30pm): ATK vs Real Kashmir FC (PQ6).
2 April (8.30pm): Jamshedpur FC vs Churchill Brothers FC (PQ7).
3 April (8.30pm): Neroca FC vs NEUFC (PQ8).
Quarterfinals:
4 April (8.30pm): PQ4 vs PQ5 (Q9).
5 April (8.30pm): PQ3 vs PQ6 (Q10).
6 April (8.30pm): PQ2 vs PQ7 (Q11).
7 April (8.30pm): PQ1 vs PQ8 (Q12).
Semifinals:
9 April (8.30pm): Winner Q9 vs Winner Q11.
10 April (8.30pm): Winner Q10 vs Winner Q12.
Final: 13 April (8.30pm)
