Sub Junior National Football Championship
Founded1977 (1977)
RegionIndia
Number of teams36
Current championsMeghalaya (3rd title)
Most successful team(s)West Bengal
(12 titles)
Television broadcastersIFA TV (YouTube)
SportsKPI
WebsiteHero Sub Junior NFC
2023–24

The Sub Junior National Football Championship,[1] also known as Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy, is an Indian football tournament for players under 16 years of age. Under-16 teams representing states of India compete in the annual tournament. The tournament was started in 1977 for boys under the age 15 years. The tournament was constituted at the Darjeeling meeting of the AIFF on 12 June 1976.[2] AIFF donated the trophy in the memory of former President of Karnataka State Football Association, Mir Iqbal Hussain.

From the 2009–10 season onwards, the championship has been sponsored by Coca-Cola and was rechristened as the Coca-Cola MIHT for a period of three years. This also saw a change in the format of the tournament where there are three different levels before the selection of national team. At national level, a total of 12 state teams compete to decide the national winner state.

The 32nd edition of Sub-junior National Football Championship was conducted in 2009 with the new format. Subsequently, tournament has been held from last three years with similar format.

Conduct and format

The three levels of the tournament are as explained
1. District Level
The district football association would select a team of 16 players from among all the young footballers to represent the state at zonal level tournament. This would be done through Inter-School competitions conducted between participating school teams in each district.
2. Zonal Level
All the state teams will be divided into 5 zones. The state teams from each zone would play in a tournament at a zonal level. The top 2 teams will qualify for the National finals.
3. National Level
Total 12 teams - 10 teams (2 from each zones) plus the last years winners and the home team would compete at the National finals. Each team would then play in a round robin format. The top four teams with the maximum points would advance to the Semi-Final stage, two of them would progress to the Final Stage. The winning team would be rewarded the Coca-Cola Mir Iqal Hussain Trophy. At the National Finals, AIFF would identify and select 40 of the most promising football talent. These 40 footballers would be groomed by AIFF to become the Official National Under-16 Sub-Junior Team.

Results

The following is the list of winners and runners-up:[3]

Season Host Winner Score Runner-up
1977ErnakulamBengal and Manipur (joint winners) – 0–0
1978CoimbatoreKarnataka6–0Uttar Pradesh
1979GuwahatiAssam1–0Karnataka
1980CalcuttaAssam1–0Uttar Pradesh
1981MadrasAssam and Kerala (joint winners) – 0–0, 1–1
1982CalicutKerala1–0Assam
1984TiruchirappalliBengal and Tamil Nadu (joint winners) – 0–0
1985MysoreKarnataka1–0Manipur
1986JammuJammu and Kashmir(5–4 p)Bengal
1987CuttackGoa(5–4 p)Bengal
1988DhanbadBengal3–0Punjab
1989MargaoGoa(3–2 p)Punjab
1991KotaRajasthan3–0Goa
1992MaldaBengal3–0Orissa
1993HyderabadBengal(4–3 p)Andhra Pradesh
1994DaltonganjBihar1–0Punjab
1995MidnaporeBihar0–0 (4–3 p)Bengal
1996AllahabadBihar2–0Mizoram
1997DelhiBengal1–0Bihar
1998DelhiBengal1–0Tamil Nadu
1999–00MidnaporeBengal2–0Orissa
2000–01TirunelveliBihar1–1 (5–4 p)Bengal
2001–02ShillongBengal1–0Mizoram
2002–03NeyveliBengal2–0Manipur
2003–04AizawlMizoram2–0Meghalaya
2004–05GoaMizoram2–1West Bengal
2005–06JabalpurMizoram2–1West Bengal
2006–07ChennaiBengal3–0Mizoram
2007–08HaldwaniBengal2–1Uttar Pradesh
2008–09MahilpurMizoram1–0Punjab
2009HaldwaniUttar Pradesh2–1West Bengal
2009–10GurugramJharkhand1–0Karnataka
2010MahilpurMizoram1–0Punjab
2010–11KolkataJharkhand2–1Mizoram
2011–12MargaoAssam2–0Chandigarh
2012–13PuneMeghalaya1–0Orissa
2015–16DelhiWest Bengal1–0Odisha
2016–17CalicutMizoram1–0Meghalaya
2017–18HoshiarpurMeghalaya1–1 (3–1 p)Sports Authority of India
2018–19NaharlagunOdisha0–0 (5–4 p)Arunachal Pradesh
2019–20KalyaniMeghalaya3–0Arunachal Pradesh

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Hero Sub Junior NFC". www.the-aiff.com. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  2. ↑ Basu, Jaydeep (8 September 2019). "The tournament where stars are born: Subroto Cup burns bright". Sports Lounge. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
  3. ↑ "List of Winners/Runners-Up of the Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy (Under-15)". Archived from the original on 22 October 2020. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
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