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Thiruvananthapuram to host SAFF Championship 2015

Indian national team
Indian national team

Photo Courtesy: AIFF Media

The SAFF Championship 2015 will be played in Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), the captial city of South Indian state Kerala, from December 23, 2015 to January 2, 2016.

The SAFF Championship were originally slated to take place in June 2015, but the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) had to postpone the tournament due to the monsoons and the ongested Indian football calendar.

Hosts India and fellow contestants Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will be divided into two groups of four, while the two group winners and runners-up would advance to the semifinals.

Afghanistan, who had beaten India 2-0 in the final of the SAFF Championship 2013, will be participating in the tournament for the last time as the Afghan federation joined the Central Asian Football Association (CAFA) recently.