Shillong, Jun 25: The Shillong Sports Association’s 2024 football calendar will get underway on Thursday with the start of the U-20 Fourth Division at Polo here.
Thirty teams have registered, making this the biggest Fourth Division ever, with teams split between six groups of five. This means that, though there’s an extra team, there will be fewer matches overall as compared to 2023 when there were just four groups of seven clubs each (one group had eight).
So far the SSA has released only the first seven fixtures of each group.
In a change in format, the top two sides from each group plus the four best third-placed teams will qualify for the pre-quarterfinals from where the knockouts begin.
This year, the SSA has allowed teams to sign five players (out of a total of 25) above the age of 20, though only three of these can be fielded in the starting 11. The idea behind this is to give players who have crossed the age limit but who aren’t able to find clubs in the higher divisions to still keep playing.
Other things largely remain the same, with the matches being of 70 minutes’ duration and teams being allowed to make five substitutions. Games will be split between the First and Third Grounds in Polo.
We haven’t heard anything about what the prize money will be but we know the SSA wants to increase this from the Rs 30,000 the champions received last year.
(TSR file photo from 2023’s Fourth Division)
