The 2023 AIFF Super Cup, officially known as the 2023 Hero Super Cup for sponsorship reasons, was the third edition of the Super Cup and the 41st season of the national knockout football competition in India. The competition was sponsored by Hero MotoCorp.
The tournament was being organised after a gap of four years due to various scheduling issues, with the latest edition being played in 2019. This was the first time the Super Cup champions had a spot allotted in the AFC competitions. Odisha were crowned champions after defeating Bengaluru 2–1 in the final, their first-ever major title, and qualified for the qualifier for 2023–24 AFC Cup group stage.
Format The 2023 edition of Super Cup was played across two cities of Kerala, Kozhikode and Manjeri, selected by the AIFF in a comprehensive and inclusive manner. The competition consisted of the qualifying play-offs, the group stage, the semi-finals and the final.
The tournament proper featured 16 top clubs across the top two divisions of Indian football. All 11 clubs from the ISL and the 2022–23 I-League champions directly qualified to the group stage. The teams placed 2nd to 10th in the 2022–23 I-League competed for the four remaining spots in the qualifying round that featured single-leg ties.
The 16 qualified clubs were drawn into four groups of four each, competing in a single round-robin format, with group winners making it through to the semi-finals.
Teams
+Group stage direct entrants Team League (last) ATK Mohun Bagan Indian Super League 2nd (2018) Bengaluru 3rd (2019) Chennaiyin 3rd (2019) East Bengal 2nd (2018) Goa 3rd (2019) Hyderabad 1st Jamshedpur 3rd (2019) Kerala Blasters 3rd (2019) Mumbai 3rd (2019) NorthEast United 3rd (2019) Odisha 1st Roundglass Punjab I-League 1st
+Qualification entrants: Entering in second qualifying round Team League (last) Aizawl I-League 2nd (2018) Churchill Brothers 2nd (2018) Gokulam Kerala 2nd (2018) Mohammedan 1st Real Kashmir 2nd (2019) Sreenidi Deccan 1st TRAU 1st
+Qualification entrants: Entering in first qualifying round Team League (last) NEROCA I-League 2nd (2018) Rajasthan United 1st
Schedule
PhaseRoundMatch datesQualification roundFirst qualifying round 3 April 2023Second qualifying round5–6 April 2023Main tournamentGroup stage 8–19 April 2023Semi-finals 21–22 April 2023Final 25 April 2023
Venues A total of 32 matches were played across 2 cities, Kozhikode and Manjeri. 18 matches were played in Manjeri, including the qualifying play-offs, and 14 matches in Kozhikode.
KozhikodeManjeriEMS Corporation Stadium Payyanad StadiumCapacity: 50,000Capacity: 30,000
Qualifying rounds
|+First qualifying round
|+Second qualifying round
First qualifying round
Second qualifying round
Group stage
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Knockout stage
Semi-finals
Final
Top scorers
RankPlayerClubGoals 1 Wilmar JordánNorthEast United 72 Ansumana KromahChurchill Brothers5 Diego MaurícioOdisha 4 Nandhakumar SekarOdisha 4 5 Harry SawyerJamshedpur3 Naorem Mahesh SinghEast Bengal Rilwan HassanSreenidi Deccan
Awards AwardWinnerHero of the Tournament Award for Best Player Diego Maurício (Odisha)Golden Boot Wilmar Jordán (NorthEast United)Best Goalkeeper Amrinder Singh (Odisha)Fair Play AwardAizawl FCSource: The-AIFF
Broadcasting The Hero Super Cup 2023 was streamed live on Fancode app (all matches) and Sony Sports Ten 2 channel (all matches except the qualifiers).
See also Indian club qualifiers for 2023–24 AFC competitions 2022–23 Indian Super League 2022–23 I-League 2022–23 I-League 2
References