The Super Cup 2025 will be the fifth edition of the competition and the second after rebranded as ‘Kalinga Super Cup’ to be hosted in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha again. As usual, 16 teams will participate in the contest, 13 from ISL and three from the I-League. However, there will be a format change this season or fair to say a revert to the old system. The tournament’s curtain-raiser is on 20 April 2025 with the final scheduled on 3 May 2025. The winners will make a place in the preliminary round qualifiers for the AFC Champions League 2, the second-tier competition of Asian club football. East Bengal are the defending champions after they beat the then-holders Odisha FC in January last year.
Format & Foreigner Rule
Unlike last season, the Super Cup will not have a group stage. Instead, it will be a straight knockout competition with the winning team progressing to the next round and the loser being eliminated. All 13 ISL teams will participate and were seeded for the round of 16 according to their final league position in the 2024-25 season. Three I-League teams will take part this time, Churchill Brothers, Inter Kashi and Gokulam Kerala who will face the top three teams in the ISL this season, Mohun Bagan, FC Goa and Bengaluru FC, decided by a draw. However, Mohun Bagan has been given a bye to the quarterfinals after Churchill Brothers withdraw from the competition.
If the scores are level at the end of 90 minutes of a match, there will be no extra time and the outcome will be decided via penalties. However, if the scores are on the level term in the final of the Super Cup, 30 minutes of the extra period will be played followed by penalties. All the matches in the competition will be played in Kalinga Stadium. The AIFF announced that the participating clubs can register up to six foreign players in the squad list for the competition and also field all six in the starting eleven. In both leagues, the ISL and the I-League, the clubs can register six foreigners in the squad but only four take to the pitch.
Kalinga Super Cup 2025 Schedule
Round of 16
20 April 2025
Kerala Blasters FC vs East Bengal FC (16:30)
21 April 2025
FC Goa vs Gokulam Kerala (16:30)
Odisha FC vs Punjab FC (20:00)
23 April 2025
Bengaluru FC vs Inter Kashi (16:30)
Mumbai City FC vs Chennaiyin FC (20:00)
24 April 2025
NorthEast United FC vs Mohammedan SC (16:30)
Jamshedpur FC vs Hyderabad FC (20:00)
Quarter-finals
26 April 2025
QF1: Kerala Blasters FC/East Bengal FC vs Mohun Bagan SG (16:30)
QF2: FC Goa/Gokulam Kerala vs Odisha FC/Punjab FC (20:00)
27 April 2025
QF3: Bengaluru FC/Inter Kashi vs Mumbai City FC/Chennaiyin FC (16:30)
QF4: NorthEast United FC/Mohammedan SC vs Jamshedpur FC/Hyderabad FC (20:00)
Semi-finals
30 April 2025
SF1: Winner QF1 vs Winner QF2 (16:30)
SF2: Winner QF3 vs Winner QF4 (20:00)
Final
3 May 2025
Winner SF1 vs Winner SF2