AIFF Media Team

NEW DELHI: After 50 matches in five venues across India in the 2024-25 I-League 3 Group Stage – the second season of the fourth-tier league – 10 teams have made their way into the Final Round of the competition.

Diamond Harbour FC (Group A winners), SAT Tirur (Group A runners-up), Sesa FA (Group B winners), Dalbir FA (Group B runners-up), Chanmari FC (Group C winners), MYJ-GMSC (Group C runners-up), KLASA FC (Group D winners), Karbi Anglong Morning Star FC (Group D runners-up), Abbas Union FC (Group E winners) and Downtown Heroes FC (Group E runners-up) have qualified for the Final Round which will take place from September 20 to 30, 2024.

Home favourites Diamond Harbour FC had a minor hiccup when they lost 1-2 to Sports Odisha, but apart from that, they powered through with convincing wins against Ghaziabad City FC, Lakecity FC and SAT Tirur to finish atop Group A. Naro Hari Shrestha’s four goals were of much help for the Bengal side.

But to decide the group runners-up, there was nothing to separate SAT Tirur and Lakecity FC. Quite literally. The sides from Kerala and Madhya Pradesh drew 1-1 on the opening day, and were tied on goal difference and goals scored. As such, draw of lots remained the only option, where SAT Tirur got the nod. Retrospectively, Adheeb Basheer’s 86th-minute strike against Diamond Harbour in their 2-4 loss turned out to be the all-important goal which took SAT Tirur through.

Group B was hosted in Goa and followed the trend of the hosts finishing in first place. Sesa FA may have made a slow start with back-to-back draws against Maharashtra Oranje FC and Kerala United FC, but narrow 2-1 wins over both Garhwal Heroes FC and Dalbir FA proved enough to top the group. Sesa will be joined by Dalbir FA in the final round, who also started off on the wrong foot with a 0-3 loss to Kerala United, but back-to-back wins over Garhwal Heroes and Maharashtra Oranje guaranteed the Punjab side a top two finish.

Chanmari FC were the only team to end the group stage with a perfect record of four wins. The Aizawl side topped Group C, scoring 12 goals, with six of them coming against RKM FA. Vincent Lalduhawma and MS Dawngliana did the bulk of the scoring, with four and three goals, respectively. There was a real tussle for second spot in the group, where MYJ-GMSC only managed to pip HAL SC on goal difference. On the last day, the Mumbai-based club required a big win over RKM and hoped for a defeat for HAL against Chanmari, and that’s exactly how it all panned out. MYJ-GMSC did their job, coming from behind to thrash RKM 5-1, largely thanks to a hat-trick from Himanshu Patil, who also became the group stage top-scorer with six goals. HAL only required a draw against the hosts to seal second spot, but they fell short and lost 1-2, thus missing the chance to return to I-League 2 for the first time since the 2009-10 season.

Group D was characterised by free-scoring performances from KLASA FC, who netted 12, and hosts Karbi Anglong Morning Star FC, who scored 16, to finish first and second, respectively. Backed by their passionate home fans, who averaged an attendance of over 10,000 per game at the KASA Stadium in Diphu, Karbi Anglong Morning Star secured dominant wins over Mumbai Kenkre FC, Jaipur Elite FC and Bhuna FC to confirm Assam’s representation in the final round. But it was KLASA FC, who remained unbeaten in all four games, including a come-from-behind 2-1 win over the hosts. Hence, the Manipur side progressed to the I-League 3 final round for the second year running. Mumbai Kenkre, who were relegated from I-League 2 last season and played in the I-League as recently as two seasons ago, could only finish in third spot.

In Group E, Downtown Heroes FC ensured that all group hosts progressed to the final round as they qualified in second spot after a hard-fought 2-2 draw against Southern Sporting Union in the last game. The Srinagar side had comprehensively beaten Abbas Union FC and Charutar Vidya Mandal FC in the first two matches. Telangana side Abbas Union recovered from the opening day loss to the hosts and went on a three-game winning and clean sheet streak to secure top spot in style.

The 2024-25 I-League 3 Final Round will kick off on September 20, with the final scheduled for September 30. The 10 teams will be divided into two groups of five each and will face each other once in a single round-robin format. The top two teams from each group will earn promotion to the 2024-25 I-League 2. The two group winners will contest the final to be crowned the I-League 3 champions.