AIFF announces men's U20 National Championships in Chattisgarh

All India Football Federation on Thursday announced new men's U-20 National Football Championships which will be held in April in Narainpur, Chhattisgarh.

The new competition in the AIFF's calendar will be known as Swami Vivekananda U20 National Football Championship.

It will be played at the sprawling Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama in Narayanpur, Chhattisgarh, which has a full-fledged, in-house football pitch, training facilities, and residential area.

Following the discontinuation of the national U21 competition during the COVID-19 pandemic, AIFF President Kalyan Chaubey expressed last year the urgent need to restart the event in the senior boys' category to fill the void.

"I'm pleased to see the Under 20 NFC competition being brought back into our football calendar this year, thus bridging a wide gap which was in existence last few years in our youth structure pyramid between U17 Youth League to Santosh Trophy," he said in an AIFF release.

"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 gets completed," added Chaubey.

As a next step, the AIFF will invite all its state member associations to participate in the U20 NFC.