AIFF announces Super Cup qualifiers draw

New Delhi, [India] Mar 12 (ANI): All India Football Federation (AIFF) on Monday announced Super Cup qualifiers draw which will be played on a knockout basis.

"This is the first time of the Super Cup where we thought it would be nice to see the ISL and the I-League club play a knockout competition and we think that this will be attractive to our spectators as well as a good television property," said General Secretary, AIFF, Kushal Das.

The Cup will be played on a knock-out basis among 16 teams, the AIFF had earlier informed.

The qualifiers will be played between March 12 and March 31, while the final round will be held between March 31 and April 22.

The schedule for Super Cup is as follows:

March 31, 2018: Chennaiyin FC vs Aizawl FC.

April 1, 2018: Bengaluru FC vs Qualifier 2 (Winner of NorthEast United vs Gokulam Kerala FC).

April 1, 2018: Qualifier 1 (Winner of Delhi Dynamos vs Churchill Brothers) vs Mohun Bagan.

April 2, 2018: Minerva Punjab FC vs Jamshedpur FC .

April 3, 2018: FC Goa vs Qualifier 4 (Winner of ATK vs Chennai City FC)

April 4, 2018: FC Pune City vs Shillong Lajong.

April 5, 2018: Kingfisher East Bengal vs Qualifier 3 (Winner of Mumbai City FC vs Indian Arrows).

April 6, 2018: NEROCA FC vs Kerala Blasters.

Quarter-finals: To be announced later.

April 16: Semi-final 1.

April 17: Semi-final 2.

April 20- Final.

The AIFF, which is looking for allegation put forth by I-league team Minerva FC owner Ranjit Bajaj about inapprorate approach by rival East Bengal team, is still under investigation.

According to ESPN reports, a letter by the owner, which was addressed to AIFF CEO Kushal Das, I-League CEO Sunando Dhar accused goalkeeping coach of East Bengal (A Kolkata Football club), Abdul Siddiqui, of making an improper approach ahead of their match against Chennai City FC on March 2.

The letter also included accusations against other officials of East Bengal club, who called Rohit Ramesh, owner of Chennai City and accused him of fixing his side's match with Bajaj.

"The first case has already been given to the CBI, they are investigating," added Kushal Das on the Minerva FC scandal, where the team owner alleged of being approached inappropriately for match-fixing by a rival team (East Bengal).(ANI)