The All India Football Federation (AIFF) is set to introduce a U-20 national championship for men with the inaugural season of the competition to be played in January-February 2024.
Players born on January 1, 2005, and on or before December 31, 2007, will be eligible to feature in the first edition of the competition. “We are starting this tournament after extensive discussions with our technical department and competition committee,” AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey said.
Chaubey added, “Our main aim behind this championship is to provide more opportunities to the footballers in the U-20 age group, who may not make the team for the senior national football championship for the Santosh Trophy for their respective states.”
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AIFF introduces U-20 National Football Championship 🇮🇳 for Men 🙌Read 👉🏼 https://t.co/vLebStHXsd#IndianFootball ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/asvIBwLVlt
— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) July 21, 2023
AIFF secretary general Shaji Prabhakaran mentioned that the National Youth U-20 Championship will provide a boost to youngsters who couldn’t participate in competitions due to the Covid-19 pandemic-related setbacks. Competition commission chairman Anil Kumar explained that they have always wanted to give young players a chance to showcase their talent at the national level.
The introduction of this tournament comes at an appropriate time as the senior men’s team has recently bagged two multi-nation tournaments recently. The Sunil Chhetri-led side emerged victorious in the Intercontinental Championship in Odisha in June and they followed it up with winning the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) championship by defeating Kuwait in the final in Bengaluru earlier this month.
Moreover, the Igor Stimac-coached team will be heading into the AFC Asian Cup in 2024 in China, which will be the team’s third appearance in the continental tournament since 2011. The U-20 national championship is likely to create a pipeline of promising players who can break into the senior side in the coming years.
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