Should there be changes to the Federation Cup?

The Federation Cup is India's premier knockout tournament though calling it so is somewhat wrong then its format is a combination of league-cum-knockout rather then being a pure knockout like most FA Cup's are around the world.

The 33rd edition of the Federation Cup was held from September 17 to 29 in Kolkata and Pune. And after the end of the tournament the All India Football Federation take time for introspection and should consider some changes to make the tournament more interesting and also more competitive as well.

The most important thing is that the AIFF should look at options of how to make the tournament a pure knockout competition with matches organised throughout the season and across the country. It was tried once in 1998 with matches across India and over 60 teams taking part. In those days the AIFF said that the tournament was too expensive to organise in such a way.

My suggestion would be Regional qualifiers and then a final 16 with straight knockout matches, no league/group matches and if not spread over the season but then a certain period of time. This would do two things. The element of surprise would be strengthened, then in a one-off match smaller sides have a chance against bigger teams, which is the main charm of Cup competitions; while also saving two/three weeks in the Indian football calendar, then no fixed slot is needed for the Federation Cup, but rather a weekend for the final.

It is maybe something the AIFF considers, then a Federation Cup in such a format will surely be of bigger interest.