AIFF greenlights squad changes for Santosh Trophy 2023-24 final rounds in Arunachal Pradesh

The participating teams will be allowed to have an initial registration of 40 players.

The AIFF’s Competition Committee met virtually on Tuesday, January 9, 2024, under the chairmanship of Mr. Anilkumar Prabhakaran, to discuss the regulations for the Santosh Trophy 2023-24 and other competition-related matters.

In attendance were AIFF Acting Secretary General Mr. M. Satyanarayan, members of the Competition Committee, Mr. Deepak Sharma (Deputy Chairman, Himachal Pradesh), Mr. Syed Imtiaz Husain (Bihar), Mr. K Neibou Sekhose (Nagaland), Mr. Mohan Lal (Chhattisgarh), Mr. Sourav Pal (IFA), Mr. Bikramjit Purkayastha (Delhi), and Aslam Ahmed Khan (Karnataka).

The committee recommended that all nine teams, who have qualified to play the final rounds of the Santosh Trophy in Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh (February 21 to March 9), can make any number of changes in their squads that played in the qualifiers. However, the new players to be added to the squads should not be from among those who have already played for any other state in the 2023–24 qualifiers.

The participating teams will be allowed to have an initial registration of 40 players, out of which 22 should be selected by the respective teams for final registration. While the deadline for registering 40 players is February 5, 2024, the final 22 could be registered by February 15.

The AIFF Acting Secretary General, M. Satyanaryan, said, “We had a good meeting. Since there was a huge gap between the preliminary rounds and the final rounds of the Santosh Trophy, we have given the participating teams, nine of whom have qualified, the chance to rope in fresh players.

I hope they will all come prepared for the event. The Santosh Trophy this time will be played in Arunachal Pradesh for the first time and we are all looking forward to having a great event.”

The Chairman of the Competition Committee, Mr. Anilkumar Prabhakaran, wished all the participating teams in the Santosh Trophy good luck for the tournament. He also thanked the members of the committee for taking thoughtful decisions.

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