Kalinga Super Cup: Tournament set to be plagued with problems and uncertainty

Indian football is set to welcome back the Super Cup in January next year with the tournament rebranded as Kalinga Super Cup . The tournament will be played between 9-28 January, 2024 and the matches will take place at two venues in Odisha, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) has confirmed. Most importantly, the winners of the Kalinga Super Cup will be nominated to play in the AFC Champions League 2 Preliminary Stage of the 2023-24 season. The last bit about the AFC Champions League 2 participation has significantly raised the stakes for the Kalinga Super Cup, but it also has potential for another controversy in Indian football as everything else around the competition is quite hazy at the moment. The AIFF has said that both Indian Super League (ISL) and I-League clubs have been invited to take part in the tournament. 16 teams will take part in the competition with 12 from ISL and four spots have been reserved for I-League. Headache for I-League sides In previous editions, the Super Cup took place at the end of the season and the qualifiers for I-league teams were played based on where the teams finished in the table. But with Kalinga Super Cup 2023-24 taking place midway through the season, the same procedure cannot be followed. AIFF has said that “The I-League teams will play the qualifiers to get into the group stage of the Kalinga Super Cup”. However, so far I-League clubs have not been informed about what will be the format for the qualifiers. There are also rumours that some I-League clubs may withdraw from the tournament as AIFF is not going to provide any subsidy or travel and stay compensation for a tournament that will take place in Odisha for 20 days something which can heighten the financial pressure on the clubs from the second division. ISL clubs also at disadvantage There are concerns for the ISL clubs as well. The tournament will run parallell to the AFC Asian Cup 2023 where India have been drawn in a tough Group B against Australia, Uzbekistan and Syria. The Blue Tigers face Australia on 12 January in their first match. Several ISL clubs will be forced to release their best players for the national team during a period where they will also be required to take part in the Kalinga Super Cup. The AIFF statement on the tournament said, “Both Indian Super League and I-League teams have been invited to take part in the annual tournament,” which means some ISL clubs may still decline to take part in the Kalinga Super Cup. Even if they don’t, clubs like Mumbai City FC and Bengaluru FC who send most players to the national team will be at a significant disadvantage when it comes to vying for the AFC Champions League 2 Preliminary Stage spot. Why no Super Cup at season’s end? The ISL, which had 11 teams last season, ended on 18 March 2023. This time with 12 teams it’s expected to stretch longer which means the Super Cup in all probability would have clashed with the Indian general elections and cricket’s Indian Premier League (IPL). To avoid such a scenario, a decision was taken to play the tournament in January.