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The Indian Football calendar is a burgeoning one, and the 2022-23 season has seen it grow further. Now winding down towards the business end of the season, Indian Football fans are all set to be treated with yet another top tournament – the Super Cup, the draw for which was held at the Football House in New Delhi on Tuesday, March 7, 2023.
For the first time ever, the Super Cup will be held in Kerala. Sixteen teams are set to fight it out for India’s premier cup competition, and in an unprecedented move, the winners of the Super Cup will also get a chance to play at the continental level. The champions of the Super Cup will fight it out in a playoff against last season’s I-League champions Gokulam Kerala FC, to determine who will get an entry into the AFC Cup South Zone group.
The tournament will see participation from 11 teams from the Indian Super League and ten teams from the I-League. The eleven teams of the ISL and the winners of the I-League get a direct entry into the group stage of the competition.
Seven teams from the I-League (those ranked from second to eighth) will have a set of playoff qualifiers to get into the group stage of the tournament. Furthermore, the teams ranked ninth and tenth will play a qualifying playoff and the winners will get a place in the qualifiers.
The draw for the Super Cup saw the 16 participating teams divided into four groups of four. Group A consists of Bengaluru FC, Kerala Blasters FC, newly crowned I-League champions RoundGlass Punjab FC and the winners of the qualifier between the second ranked I-League team and the team that won the eliminator.
Group B consists of Hyderabad FC, Odisha FC, East Bengal FC and the winners of the playoff between the I-League teams ranked fourth and seventh. ATK Mohun Bagan, Jamshedpur FC, FC Goa and the winners of the playoff between the teams ranked third and eighth in the I-League are in Group C.
Group D consists of the newly crowned ISL 2022-23 League Shield winners Mumbai City FC, Chennaiyin FC, North East United FC and the winners of the playoff between the fifth ranked I-League team and the one ranked sixth.
