New Delhi: The final draw for the final round of the 27th Senior Women’s National Football Championship 2022-23, set to be played in Punjab, was held virtually on Saturday, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) said.
Twelve teams were divided into two groups of six comprising hosts Punjab, direct seeds Railways, six group winners from the group stage and four best second-placed teams.
The final round will start on June 14, 2023, with matches to be held in two venues in Amritsar — GNDU Sports Complex and Khalsa College.
Amritsar also hosted Group I of the first round, which featured 30 teams divided into six groups and was played across six centralised venues including Haldwani, Margao, Bhilai, Mathura and Bengaluru. It began on March 25 and ended on April 9.
Manipur are the record 21-time champions and have also won the previous three editions of the Senior Women’s National Football Championship, most recently edging Railways on penalties in the 2021-22 final in Kerala.
Hosts Punjab and defending champions and Group VI winners Manipur were directly placed in positions A1 and B1 in the draw, an AIFF media release said.
Haryana (Group I), Maharashtra (Group II), Himachal Pradesh (Group III), Jharkhand (Group IV), and Tamil Nadu (Group V) were the other group winners. Chandigarh (Group II), Karnataka (Group VI), West Bengal (Group V) and Odisha (Group III) advanced to the final round as the four best second-placed teams.
The groups of the final round of the 27th Senior Women’s National Football Championship are as follows:
Group A: Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Chandigarh, Odisha, Karnataka and Jharkhand.
Group B: Manipur, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Railways, West Bengal and Haryana.
Matches will be played in a single round-robin format, with the top two teams from each group qualifying for the semifinals. The final will be played on June 28 at the GNDU Sports Complex in Amritsar.
(IANS)
