Sub-junior national championship kicks off in September

Coca Cola sponsored sub-junior (under-15) national football championship will get started in the last week of September. On a press release issued by the All India Football Federation (AIFF), all the member state associations are directed to conduct inter-school, -district, or –club tournaments to select players for the state team.

The teams are divided into four groups and each group is based on a zone. The preliminary group stage matches will be held in four different venues. The final round will be held either in Delhi or Haryana.

The final round will be played in a round-robin format, with top two teams from each group qualifying along with the last editions winner, Mizoram and the host team, either Delhi or Haryana.

Participating teams and groupings

Group I – South-West Tamil Nadu Karnataka Kerala Pondicherry Goa Maharashtra Gujarat Daman and Diu	Group II – East West Bengal Orissa Jharkhand Madhya Pradesh Bihar Chhattisgarh Rajasthan Andaman and Nicobar Island
Group III – North-East Manipur Nagaland Arunachal Pradesh Sikkim Assam Meghalaya Tripura	Group IV – North Delhi Uttaranchal Punjab Uttar Pradesh Chandigarh Himachal Pradesh Jammu and Kashmir Haryana
Final round teams Host team (Delhi or Haryana) Mizoram (last year’s winner) Winner of Group I Runner up of Group I Winner of Group II Runner up of Group II Winner of Group III Runner up of Group III Winner of Group IV Runner up of Group IV