Manipur’s oldest football tourney from April 28

Imphal: The 64th edition of the Sir Churachand Singh KCSI, CBE Memorial Football Tournament, which is one of the oldest tournaments in the country, is all set to kick off from April 28, according to All Manipur Football Association (AMFA).

The first match of the tourney which will be sponsored by Babina Group and played between XI star Suakampat and  KFA Kangpokpi at 2.30 pm.

MLA Sheikh Noorul Hassan, CMD Dr, Th Dhabali( Babina Group), Sunil Elangbam (Manipur Olympic Association), RK Sanayaima(All Manipur Sports Association) and President AMFA M Ratankumar will attend  the opening function.

This time, most of the matches of the tourney will be played at artificial turf, Lamlong Thongkhong in Imphal East district.

The tournament will see two separate preliminary round (knock-out) competitions for four slots to the main draw, two from among seven AMFA Cup teams and two from among 17 Winners’ Cup and district league champions.
The four teams will join 14 Manipur State League teams in the next round (knock-out format) for eight next stage berths, he said.
The eight teams will further join defending champions Sagolband United and invitational teams (numbers yet to be fixed) for the group league competition before the title clash.
Four outstation teams including the Indian Navy team, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Sikkim are expected to participate in the tournament. The tournament was supposed to be held earlier but it had to be deferred in the wake of All India Football Federation’s instruction to include five or six teams from the “Federation Cup” and owing to the ongoing Super Cup.