Kerala Blasters to face Bengaluru FC in Super Cup, tournament to begin on April 3

Indian Super League (ISL) Shield winners Mumbai City FC were on Tuesday placed in a group (Group D) along with Chennaiyin FC, Northeast United FC and a team from the I-League for the Super Cup tournament to be held from April 3. This tournament will be organized for the first time in Kerala, whose draw was done on Tuesday. Last week, Kerala Blasters were ousted from the ISL after suffering a controversial loss against Bengaluru FC.

Both these teams are together in Group I of the Super Cup. I-League champions Round Glass Punjab are also in this group. Sixteen teams will compete for the title in the tournament, with the winner getting a chance to play at the continental level. The Super Cup winners will face last year’s I-League champions Gokulam Kerala FC in a playoff match for a place in the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) Cup South zone group.

Indian Super League and I-League teams will participate in the tournament. ISL teams and I-League winners get direct entry into the group stage of the competition. The seven I-League teams (those ranked second to eighth) have to go through the playoff qualifiers to reach the group stage of the tournament. The 9th and 10th placed teams in the I-League will play a qualifying playoff and the winner will get a place in the qualifiers. The 16 participating teams were divided into four groups of four each in the draw of the Super Cup.