India placed in Group 2

DEC: 29 After getting confirmation from 15 nations, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) got down to business. On Friday, in the prese...

DEC: 29 After getting confirmation from 15 nations, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) got down to business. On Friday, in the presence of a large gathering which included diplomats from the different nations, Union Minister for External Affairs Jaswant Singh made the draw for the groupings for the Millennium Super Soccer Cup 2001.

The 16 teams, including India, have been divided into four groups. The top four teams in the tournament, according to latest FIFA rankings — Yugoslavia (9), Uruguay (32), Romania (13) and Chile (19) — are top seeds of four different groups while the rest have been placed behind them.

India being the host nation had the privilege of selecting the group of its choice and it opted to be in Group Two which also has Uruguay, Iceland and Indonesia. This group along with Group One which has Yugoslavia, Bosnia, Iraq and Bangladesh will play their league matches in Kochi. Group Three which has Romania, Cameroon, Jordan and Hong Kong will play at Goa and Group Four having Chile, Uzbekistan, Japan and Bahrain will play league matches at Calcutta from January 10.

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Two teams from each group will make it to the quarter-finals. The semi-finals, final and the openeing and closing ceremonies will be held in Calcutta.

The fixtures of the groups will be announced tommorrow at Kochi by the AIFF president Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi and the sale of tickets will begin from January 4 at branches of State Bank of India.

A 22-member Indian team will be announced on December 31 while the final squad would be named on January 6, according to AIFF secretary general Alberto Colaco said.

THE GROUPINGS

GROUP 1: Yugoslavia, Bosnia, Iraq, Bangladesh

GROUP 2: Uruguay, Iceland, Indnonesia, India

GROUP 3: Romania, Cameroon, Jordan, Hong Kong

GROUP 4: Chile, Uzbekistan, Japan, Bahrain

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