Our Sports Reporter
GUWAHATI: The Bharat Ratna Lokopriya Gopinath Bordoloi Trophy will return this year with an entirely new look after a year of hiatus. The 70th edition of the championship will be held across the State and the teams from each district will take part in the 2-month long competition.
The Bordoloi Trophy was last held in April, 2023. OILFC won the title after defeating United Chirangduar FC 3-1 in the final. Even though the Guwahati Sports Association communicated with the All India Football Federation and did its best to hold the following edition with a new look, the plan did not materialize.
This year the Bordoloi Trophy will be held in three phases. In the first phase competition will be held in all 35 districts and it will be followed by a cluster stage in which the winning teams from each district will compete. The final phase of the meet will have 16 teams.
Revealing the information during a media conference the general secretary of the Guwahati Sports Association Devajit Saikia said, “For the first time we are inviting all 35 districts of Assam in the championship. Before finalizing our plans we discussed the matter with Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and the Sports and Youth Welfare Department. We received a positive response from the chief minister and the Sports and Youth Welfare Department also assured full cooperation.”
Saikia added: “35 districts have been divided into six clusters. Initially all 35 districts will involve in the 1st phase of the competition where each district will organize a eight-team tournament and the winning team from each district will advance to the cluster stage of the meet. The final phase will be held in Guwahati and 16 teams will take part in it. Among the 16 teams 12 will come from the cluster stage (Top two teams from each cluster) and they will be joined by top two teams of Guwahati Premier League. The other two teams will join through invitation and they may be even from abroad also.”
As per the tentative schedule the first phase will be held from January 20-February 5 and the date of second phase is February 10-February 25. Final round will kick off on March 1 and the final is slated for March 15. There will be a separate registration window for the players and it will open in December.
Saikia added that around 5600 players from nearly 284 clubs will participate in the next edition of the Bordoloi Trophy and the number of matches will be around 608.
The media briefing was also attended by president of the Guwahati Sports Association Paresh Chandra Das and Secretary of the Sports and Youth Welfare Department Kausar Jamil Hilaly.
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