In a bid to give the Indian national team more match practice, the AIFF has decided to host to an international football tournament — Champions Cup — late August. Afghanistan, Malaysia and St. Kitts & Nevis are expected to compete at the invitational tournament that is likely to be held from August 18 to 27 at the SDAT-Nehru Stadium in Chennai.
The International Management Group-Reliance (IMG-R), the commercial partner of All India Football Federation, has hired the services of the firm which handles the pitch preparation for Chennaiyin FC in the Indian Super League and work is already in progress.
It is understood that the event will be a conducted in a league format and the two teams which has the most number of points will contest the final. "There will be one match each on Aug. 18 and 19, followed by a break and then two matches on August 21 and 22. There will be six matches in total followed by the final on August 27," said a source.
Speaking to Sportstar on Tuesday, Kushal Das, Secretary of the All India Football Federation, said the objective of holding the tournament is to prepare the national team. “We used to have the Nehru Cup (1982-2012). Now with Hero coming on board as sponsor, we are keen to host 10-12 International tournaments for the national team. My only hope is that public throng the stadium to watch the matches," he said.
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