Finals of Coca-Cola Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy to begin in Kolkata from February 14

The finals of the Coca Cola Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy 2010-11 will be held in West Bengal from February 14 to 24, the AIFF website has announced. The Championship finals will be played over two stadiums in the vicinity of Kolkata at Barasat Stadium and Khardah Stadium.

The 16 teams which have made it to the final round of the 33rd Sub-Junior National Football Championship for the Coca Cola Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy 2010-11 will be divided into four groups.

Defending champions Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Chandigarh and Maharastra are clubbed in Group A while Goa, Orissa, Tripura and Kerala are drawn in Group B. Group C comprises of four-time champions Mizoram, Bihar, Punjab and last year’s runners-up Karnataka, while the host and record 13-time champions West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Madhya Pradesh are clustered in Group D.

The group matches will be held from February 14 to 19, while both the semifinals will be held on February 21. The grand finale will be played on February 24.

The Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy, organized under the aegis of AIFF, received a boost in 2009 when Coca-Cola turned up as sponsors of the event. It is a grassroots level football initiative to discover budding football talent in the country and prepare a strong team for the Under-14 Indian football team which competes at the Asian Championships. This premier trophy was set up in 1977 and is played all over the country in 400 districts involving 6,000 young players.

The detailed fixture list is available on the AIFF Website.