Last year’s runners-up Mumbai district football team has arrived in the city for the Western India Football Association’s Maharashtra State Inter-District Football Championship for Senior Men which will be held from April 25. The eight-team competition will be hosted by Nagpur District Football Association. Nagpur are the defending champions. They had piped Mumbai by a solitary goal scored by Fahad Junaid. The other six teams, including, Kolhapur, Amravati, Chandrapur, Pune, Raigad and Aurangabad, will be reaching the city by Thursday evening. All the teams have been put at Krida Prabodhini Hostel in Divisional Sports Complex, Mankapur. Top eight teams are divided into two groups of four each for this league-cum-knock-out tournament.

 

‘The Hitavada’ had published the eigth participating teams in its ‘CityLine’ issue dated April 16. Winners from the zonal meets of the inter-district competition and last year’s State championship’s four semi-finalists have formed the eight teams for the meet. Last year’s semi-finalists were Nagpur, Pune, Mumbai and Kolhapur. According to WIFA, Group A consists of defending champions Nagpur, Kolhapur, Amravati and Chandrapur while Group B comprises Mumbai, Raigad, Pune and Aurangabad. With the temperature hoverning over 43 degree Celcisus. the organisers have decided to hold matches in morning and evening sessions.

 

The league matches will be played on two grounds — South East Central Railways ground in Motibagh and NDFA’s Dr Ambedkar Football Stadium in Suyog Nagar. Daily, two morning matches will be played at SECR Stadium while the evening matches will be played at Dr Ambedkar Stadium under the lights. The semi-finals will be played on Monday while the third place match and the final will be played on April 29, Tuesday.