NEW DELHI: The All India Football Federation announced on Wednesday that the Kalinga Super Cup will be organised in Odisha starting from January 9, 2024.

The matches are planned to be held in two different venues in Odisha. Both Indian Super League and I-League teams have been invited to take part in the annual tournament. The format of the tournament will consist of four groups of four teams each, who will play single leg matches amongst themselves. The group winners will qualify for the semi-finals followed by the final to be played on January 28, 2024.

“As per the decision we took earlier, the annual Super Cup tournament will now be organised in a bigger and broader perspective. The tournament will now be known as Kalinga Super Cup and will be played in Odisha in January 2024. This is a positive development for Indian domestic football. I am confident the Kalinga Super Cup will be a huge hit both in terms of organisation and spectator interest,” said AIFF President Kalyan Chaubey.

The I-League teams will play the qualifiers to get into the group stage of Kalinga Super Cup where four slots have been reserved for them in the group stage. The Champions of Kalinga Super Cup will be nominated to play in the ACL 2 Preliminary Stage of AFC 2023-24 season.