Kochi to host women's international football tournament

The tournament is intended to provide much-needed exposure and practice for the Indian senior women's team which will take part in the AFC Asian Women's Championship next year.

REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE: Four nations will participate in the tournament.

Kochi will host an international women's football tournament in December.

The tournament is intended to provide much-needed exposure and practice for the Indian senior women's team which will take part in the AFC Asian Women's Championship to be held early next year.

Abhishek Yadav, the Deputy General Secretary of All India Football Federation (AIFF) said it will be a four-nation tournament and that the AIFF was in the process of finalising the participating nations.

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"The tournament will be held in Kochi in the first week of December. We are thankful to the Kerala Government for agreeing to host the tournament. It is part of AIFF's and the Kerala Government's endeavour to promote women's football. We are trying to get a couple of strong teams from either Europe or Asia and we will finalise it as soon as the ongoing qualifiers are over," said Abhishek Yadav.

Kerala's passion for Santosh Trophy

The former international said that if other States followed the example of Kerala, the Santosh Trophy football championship would regain its lost glory. Kerala has continued to give importance to the tournament.

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"Kerala is one of the few States which still gives a lot of respect to the national championships. There is a lot of passion and emotion attached to the Santosh Trophy in Kerala. As a player, I have experienced the passion of the crowd. If other States can emulate Kerala's passion, I am sure Santosh Trophy will regain its lost glory," he said.

He added that Kerala will be the host of the next junior and sub-junior national football championships for boys and girls.