New Delhi: The inaugural Swami Vivekananda U20 Men's National Football Championship will begin on Friday at the Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama Sports Complex, Narainpur, Chhattisgarh.
A total of 32 states are participating in the championship, the final of which will be played on May 22.
In the opening match on Friday, West Bengal will take on Tamil Nadu in Group E. All matches will be streamed live on the Indian Football YouTube Channel and TGS Live.
The U20 Men's National Championship is a unique addition to the AIFF Calendar since an inter-state meet in this age group has never been played before.
The championship will be held at the sprawling Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama in Narainpur, Chhattisgarh, which has an in-house full-fledged football pitch, training facilities and a residential area.
Emphasising the need for hosting a U20 Men's tournament, the AIFF President, Kalyan Chaubey, had earlier said: "We felt the need to have the competition in Under 20, to put the building blocks in place for our footballers' gradual progression into senior competitions, and to create a pipeline for Asian Games U23 selection.
"The U20 group competition is very crucial in a player's life cycle to step into a professional career.
With the U20 competition back in recognition, the youth structure slabs from Sub Junior to Santosh Trophy get completed," he said.
Apart from the newly introduced U20 championship, the AIFF also holds two other men's age group competitions, the Junior NFC and the Sub-Junior NFC.
Fixtures:
Phase 1
Apr 12 - West Bengal vs Tamil Nadu (07.30), Uttarakhand vs Punjab (15.30)
Apr 13 - Uttar Pradesh vs Ladakh (07.30) ,Karnataka vs Jharkhand (15.30)
Apr 14- Tamil Nadu vs Uttarakhand (07.30) ,Punjab vs West Bengal (15.30)
Apr 15- Ladakh vs Karnataka (07.30),Jharkhand vs Uttar Pradesh (15.30)
Apr 16- West Bengal vs Uttarakhand (07.30), Punjab vs Tamil Nadu (15.30)
Apr 17- Uttar Pradesh vs Karnataka (07.30), Jharkhand vs Ladakh (15.30)
Apr 19- Group E winners vs Group C winners QF1 (07.30)
Phase 2
Apr 21 - Chandigarh vs Manipur (07.30), Himachal Pradesh vs Odisha (15.30)
Apr 22- Sikkim vs Andaman & Nicobar (07.30),Telangana vs Bihar (15.30)
Apr 23 - Manipur vs Himachal Pradesh (07.30),Odisha vs Chandigarh (15.30)
Apr 24- Andaman & Nicobar vs Telangana (07.30),Bihar vs Sikkim (15.30)
Apr 25- Chandigarh vs Himachal Pradesh (07.30),Odisha vs Manipur (15.30)Apr 26- Sikkim vs Telangana (07.30),Bihar vs Andaman & Nicobar (15.30)
Apr 28- Group A winners vs Group H winners QF2 (07.30)
Phase 3
May 2 - Chhattisgarh vs Delhi (07.30), Pondicherry vs Goa (15.30)
May 3- Kerala vs Gujarat (07.30), Haryana vs Andhra Pradesh (15.30)
May 4- Delhi vs Pondicherry (07.30), Goa vs Chhattisgarh (15.30)
May 5-Gujarat vs Haryana (07.30), Andhra Pradesh vs Kerala (15.30)
May 6- Chhattisgarh vs Pondicherry (07.30), Goa vs Delhi (15.30)
May 7- Kerala vs Haryana (07.30), Andhra Pradesh vs Gujarat (15.30)
May 9 - Group B winners vs Group D winners QF 3 (07.30)
Phase 4
May 11-Tripura vs Arunachal Pradesh (07.30), Madhya Pradesh vs Assam (15.30)
May 12- Rajasthan vs Maharashtra (07.30), Mizoram vs Meghalaya (15.30)
May 13- Arunachal Pradesh vs Madhya Pradesh (07.30), Assam vs Tripura (15.30)
May 14- Maharashtra vs Mizoram (07.30), Meghalaya vs Rajasthan (15.30)
May 15- Tripura vs Madhya Pradesh (07.30), Assam vs Arunachal Pradesh (15.30)
May 16- Rajasthan vs Mizoram (07.30), Meghalaya vs Maharashtra (15.30)
May 18- Group G winners vs Group F winners QF 4 (07.30)
May 20- Semi Final 1 -- QF1 VS QF2 (07.30), Semi Final 2 -- QF3 vs QF4 (15.30)
May 22-Final SF1 vs SF2 (15.30)
