Shillong, Sep 3: Meghalaya is absent from the list of teams taking part in the 2024-25 edition of the Senior Women’s National Football Championship, the draw of which was conducted yesterday.
Meghalaya had lost all four of their group matches in the tournament last season and this isn’t the only time they’ve given the competition a miss, having last done so in 2022-23.
Multiple winners Manipur are the defending champions this year after defeating Haryana in last season’s final in Kolkata. These two will receive direct entry into the final round where they will be joined by eight best from the preliminary group stage.
There are 31 teams that are set to compete in the group stage and they have been divided into seven groups of four and one group of three teams.
The top seeded teams – Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Railways, Delhi, Punjab, Odisha, Sikkim, and Jharkhand – were assigned to Groups A to H respectively. All the remaining participating teams were placed in an open pot and drawn sequentially into the groups.
The eight group winners will join Manipur and Haryana in the final round where they will be split into two groups of five teams. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the semifinals.
Senior Women’s NFC 2024-25 (Preliminary stage):
Group A: Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Goa
Group B: West Bengal, Karnataka, Jammu & Kashmir, Bihar
Group C: Railways, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Assam
Group D: Delhi, Maharashtra, Pondicherry, Andaman & Nicobar Islands
Group E: Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand
Group F: Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh
Group G: Sikkim, Chandigarh, Tripura, Gujarat
Group H: Jharkhand, Telangana, Mizoram
