Federation Cup to be played from 7th to 21st May

The Federation Cup is one of India’s premier trophies and is sure to have star-studded games...

The 2017 Federation Cup is set to be played from May 7 to May 21, as announced by the All India Football Federation. The tournament is going to be played in Cuttack after a hiatus of seven years. In the last instalment played there in 2010, East Bengal had won the tournament which was ironically jeopardised coach Trevor Morgan’s first trophy for the Reds and Golds.

The competition will not have home-and-away games as the AIFF will help Stephen Constantine to prepare for the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers and the friendly against Lebanon on 7th June. The single venue system also helps teams and players with lesser exertion and physical demands.

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The group games are set to be played from May 7 to May 12, with 2 games every day starting at 4 PM and 7 PM respectively. The two semi-finals are slated to be played on 14th May and the date of the final game is yet to be decided (if Mohun Bagan and Bengaluru FC qualify to the finals, they’ll mutually decide a final date with AIFF as they’ve AFC Cup commitments too).

Mohun Bagan and Bengaluru FC play each other on May 17th in the AFC Cup, and thus, the final date is yet to be announced. The final fixture and the groups will be decided after the last round games of the I-league 2016-17. Mohun Bagan are the defending champions, having defeated Aizawl FC 5-0 last year in the finals held at Guwahati, Assam.The top eight teams from the I-league table will take part in the competition.