The “Coca Cola” sponsored Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy for Sub-Junior (Under-15) National Football Championship kicked off in Kandivli yesterday. Under the new format the teams are divided into four groups and each group is based on a zone. The preliminary group stage matches will be held in four different venues. The final round will be held either in Delhi or Haryana.
Kerala pooled in the Group1 alongside Karnataka, Goa and Pondichery for the Preliminary Round will kick start their campaign at Kandivli, Maharashtra today .
Kerala boys under AFC C license holder Fysal K. Bappu will take on Pondichery later today. The last time Kerala won this tournament was in 1982 when they defeated Assam in the finals.
The final round will be played in a round-robin format, with top two teams from each group qualifying along with the last editions winner, Mizoram and the host team, either Delhi or Haryana.
The Kerala squad for the tournament is as below:
GOAL KEEPERS: VISHNU V.K - Kannur
RAMEES KARIM - Idukki
MOHAMMED NIHAL - Kozhikode
DEFENDERS SRAVAN KUMAR. - Thrissur
JIJESH B. - Wayanad
ANIS K. - Malappuram
RAHUL S. - Idukki
SHANID VALAN - Malappuram
AKSHAY. P - Kozhikode
MIDFIELDERS JENSHEER JOSEPH - Thrissur
MOHAMMED MASOOD.V.P - Wayanad
HANAN JAVED N.K - Malappuram
SELMANSHA K.P - Malappuram
ABDUL MANAF.A.G - Kasargod
FORWARDS AKSHAY KUMAR T.R - Thrissur
HARIKRISHNAN - Idukki
IJAS ALI.K - Malappuram (Captain)
MOHAMMED ASIF .P - Malappuram
JEMSHAD - Kozhikode
MIDHUN A.V - Wayanad
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Wednesday 18 November 2009, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.