The Indian football fans had to wait for four years for the third edition of the Indian Super Cup. The first season of the Super Cup was held in 2018. The winners that year were Bengaluru FC.
Sunil Chettri from Bengaluru FC was the top goal scorer in the first season. He is also the all time leading goal scorer in the tournament with 7 goals in 5 appearances.
Goa defeated Chennaiyin FC by a 2-1 margin in the finals at the Kalinga Stadium in 2019. Ferran Corominas, better known by his nickname Coro, scored 5 goals to propel the Gaurs to victory.
The tragic COVID-19 pandemic outbreak caused the competition to be later suspended. Another justification for the suspension was the Indian team’s international competitions.
After beginning their campaign with the Durand Cup, Indian football clubs will conclude their campaign with the second cup competition. The Durand Cup competition is the fifth-oldest national football competition in the world and the oldest club football competition still in existence in Asia. The ISL runner-ups Bengaluru won the competition this season after defeating Mumbai City in the championship game.
Read More
Dates
On April 3, the Indian Super Cup’s preliminary rounds began. Four I-league teams will advance to the competition’s group stage after five qualifying round games, which starts on April 8.
Each club will face its group opponents once, and two games will be played on a regular basis. On April 21 and 22, the competition’s semifinals will be held. So, on April 25, at the EMS Stadium in Kozhikode, Kerala, India, the third edition of the Indian Super Cup final will take place.
Venue
The EMS Stadium in Kozhikode, Kerala, India, and Payyanad Stadium, also known as the Malappuram District Sports Complex Stadium, both in Manjeri, Kerala, India, will serve as the tournament’s venues in 2023.
The EMS Stadium is one of the top stadiums in India, which has a significant amount of significance. Both the Indian team and Kerala’s national team have called the stadium their home for many years. The corporate stadium, which is in Kozhikode, can accommodate 53,000 people. Current home stadium of Gokulam Kerala has a capacity of 30,000 spectators and is owned by the Kerala government.
Format
The competition has a genuine 16-team knockout format up until its final edition in 2019. The top six clubs from each league used to advance directly to the group stage, while teams ranked seven through ten had to compete in knockout matches to advance.
However, the new competition’s format for the Indian Super Cup has completely changed. Along with the winners of the I-league, the second-tier league, all 11 teams from the Indian Super League will advance directly to the cup competition’s group stage.
In the cup competition this year, a total of 16 Indian clubs will compete in a Round Robin style. The qualifying round will end with the drawing of four groups of four teams each.
Each team will face each of the other two teams in their group once. The top-placed squad will advance to the semifinals after three group-stage games.
The winners of Group A will play the winners of Group C in the semifinals, while the top team from Group B will play the top team from Group D.
As a result, the first semi-final of the 2023 Super Cup will feature a rematch of this season’s Indian Super League final assuming Sunil Chettri’s Bengaluru and ATK Mohun Bagan win their respective groups.
Groups
| Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D |
| Bengaluru | East Bengal | ATK Mohun Bagan | Chennaiyin |
| Kerala Blasters | Hyderabad | Jamshedpur | Mumbai City |
| RoundGlass Punjab | Odisha | Goa | NorthEast United |
| Sreenidi Deccan/ NEROCA | Gokulam Kerala/ Mohammedan | TRAU/ Aizawl | Real Kashmir/ Churchill Brothers |
