Dr Talimeren Ao Junior Girls' NFC 2026-27 Dates and Groups Announced

The 2026-27 season of the Dr Talimeren Ao Junior Girls’ National Football Championship is scheduled to take place from September 10 to October 7, 2026, across venues in Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. A total of 33 teams will compete across two tiers in the tournament.

Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, will host Tier 1 matches for the third consecutive season from September 10 to 25. Tier 2 fixtures will be staged at the RK Ashram Ground in Narainpur, Chhattisgarh, from September 15 to October 7.

Tier 1 will feature 15 teams divided into three groups of four and one group of three. Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, who earned promotion from Tier 2 at the end of the previous season, will compete in Tier 1. They replace Goa and Arunachal Pradesh, who were relegated to Tier 2. Manipur enter the tournament as defending champions after securing a 9-0 victory over West Bengal in the previous final held in Anantapur.

The Tier 1 group draw places defending champions Manipur in Group A alongside Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, and Kerala. Group B consists of West Bengal, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Rajasthan. Group C features Delhi, Gujarat, Bihar, and Jharkhand, while Group D includes Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka.

Tier 2 features 18 teams divided into two groups of five and two groups of four. Telangana has been drawn in Group B of Tier 2 alongside Goa, Andaman & Nicobar, Pondicherry, and Arunachal Pradesh. Group A comprises Chandigarh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Tripura, and the Sports Authority of India. Group C features Meghalaya, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, and Nagaland, while Group D includes Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, and Himachal Pradesh.

Under the tournament format, the winners of each group across both tiers will progress directly to the semi-finals.