Junior I-League: Viva Kerala to start on May 8

The preliminary rounds for the sixth edition of the Junior I-League for the junior (Under 19) teams of I-League clubs  will begin on the 7th May at three venues - Goa, Kolkata and Phagwara.

Five I-League teams from the south will face each other in a round robin format at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Goa. The top 2 teams from each group will qualify for the final round of the league.

While another 5 I-League U-19 teams will meet at  Phagwara, Kolkata will see Mohun Bagan, East Bengal, Chirag United and Shillong Lajong FC fighting for a place in the final round. Viva Kerala U-19 team will face Churchill Brothers, Dempo SC, Salgaocar SC and Sporting Club de Goa in the preliminaries. Meanwhile, Phagwara will host Air India, JCT Mills FC, Mahindra United,  Mumbai FC and Pune FC.

The last edition of the tournament took place TFA Sports Complex, Jamshedpur from 7th to 19th September, 2008.  The hosts TATA Football Academy went past Sporting Club de Goa 3-1 in the finals to be crowned as the champions. Unlike last editions, academy teams  won't play any part in the event.

Here are the fixtures for this season's tournament:

Preliminary Round (Goa):

07 May, 2010 - Dempo SC  vsSporting Clube de Goa
08 May, 2010 - Viva Kerala vs Churchill Brothers
09 May, 2010 - Sporting Clube de Goa vs Salgaocar SC
10 May, 2010 - Dempo SC vs Viva Kerala 11 May, 2010 - Churchill Brothers vs Salgaocar SC
12 May, 2010 - Viva Kerala vs Sporting Clube de Goa
13 May, 2010 - Churchill Brothers vs Dempo SC
14 May, 2010 - Salgaocar SC vs Viva Kerala 15 May, 2010 - Sporting Clube de Goa vs Churchill Brothers
16 May, 2010 - Salgaocar SC vs Dempo SC

Preliminary Round (Phagwara):

08 May, 2010 - Mahindra United vs Air India
09 May, 2010 - Mumbai FC vs Pune FC
10 May, 2010 - Air India vs JCT Mills Football Club
11 May, 2010 - Mahindra United vs Mumbai FC
12 May, 2010 - Pune FC vs JCT Mills Football Club
13 May, 2010 - Mumbai FC vs Air India
14 May, 2010 - Pune FC vs Mahindra United
15 May, 2010 - JCT Mills Football Club vs Mumbai FC
16 May, 2010 - Air India vs Pune FC
17 May, 2010 - JCT Mills Football Club vs Mahindra United

The fixtures of the Kolkata leg are yet to be announced.

From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Thursday 22 April 2010, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.