Super Cup to continue, says AIFF
The All India Football Federation has announced that the Super Cup will be held between March and April of 2019.
Published : Dec 08, 2018 14:24 IST
The All India Football Federation has announced that the Super Cup, which pits the Indian Super League clubs against I-League clubs in a knockout format, will be held between March and April of 2019.
The decision was announced during the AIFF's League Committee meeting at New Delhi on Friday.
The inaugural edition of the Super Cup last year saw Bengaluru FC defeat defeat East Bengal 4-1 to clinch the title. Interestingly, I-League clubs did better than their ISL counterparts with as many as five teams making it to the quarterfinal stage.
The AIFF committee reviewed submissions made by the various 2nd Division League applicants under the club licensing process. After several rounds of deliberations, the committee came to the decision to confirm the participation of only the following clubs for the upcoming edition:
| CLUB | STATE |
| Ozone Football Club | Karnataka |
| South United FC | Karnataka |
| Fateh Hyderabad AFC | Telangana |
| New Barrackpore Rainbow FC | West Bengal |
| Mohammedan Sporting | West Bengal |
| Chhinga Veng FC | Mizoram |
| Lonestar Kashmir | Jammu & Kashmir |
| Hindustan Football Club | Delhi |
| ARA FC | Gujarat |
The committee also approved the participation of the reserve teams of ISL clubs ATK, Jamshedpur FC, Bengaluru FC, FC Goa, Kerala Blasters FC and Chennaiyin FC.
As per the regulations of the competition, the above reserve teams can only participate in the preliminary round of the tournament. The 2nd Division League is scheduled to start from the first week of January 2018 and go on till April.
It was also unanimously decided that teams from the I-League, Indian Super League and 2nd Division League will have to undergo the AIFF Academy Accreditation process to be eligible to participate in the Youth Leagues from the 2019-20 season onwards.