The 2018 Super Cup (also known as the 2018 Hero Super Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the inaugural edition of the

Super Cup A super cup is a competition, in association football, basketball, handball, volleyball and rugby union which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competi ...

and the 39th season of the national

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

competition in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. The competition was sponsored by

Hero MotoCorp Hero MotoCorp Limited is an Indian multinational motorcycle and scooter manufacturer headquartered in Delhi. It has a market share of about 30% in the Indian two-wheeler industry. The Munjal family, with its 34.75% stake, is the biggest shar ...

. The Super Cup replaced the Federation Cup as the national knockout competition. The competition began with the qualifiers on 15 March 2018 and concluded with the final on 20 April 2018. The entire tournament took place in the

Kalinga Stadium The Kalinga Stadium is a Multi-purpose stadium, multi-purpose international sports complex in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India. Its foundation stone was laid by then chief minister of Odisha Biju Patnaik in 1978. It is best known as the home ground ...

Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar () is the capital and the largest city of the States and territories of India, Indian state of Odisha. It is located in the Khordha district. The suburban region, especially the old town, was historically often depicted as ''Chakra ...

. The competition featured teams from both the

I-League The I-League is the men's second professional football division of the Indian football league system behind the Indian Super League. Administered by the All India Football Federation, it is currently contested by 13 clubs. It operates as a s ...

and the

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is a professional association football league in India and the highest level of the Indian football league system. Administered by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and its commercial partner Football Sport ...

. Both leagues contain 10 teams each; the top six teams from both qualified for the tournament automatically, while the bottom four sides contested in the qualifiers.

Bengaluru Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

won the title by defeating

East Bengal East Bengal (; ''Purbô Bangla/Purbôbongo'') was the eastern province of the Dominion of Pakistan, which covered the territory of modern-day Bangladesh. It consisted of the eastern portion of the Bengal region, and existed from 1947 until 195 ...

in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

Teams

A total of 16 teams are participating in the competition proper. The top six teams from both the

and

qualified for the Super Cup automatically while the bottom four sides have participated in the qualifiers.

Schedule

On 12 March 2018, the

All India Football Federation All India Football Federation (AIFF) is the governing body of football, futsal and beach soccer in India. It is a member of FIFA, and is affiliated with the Asian Football Confederation and South Asian Football Federation. It is affiliated wit ...

announced the schedule and full format of the tournament. Due to the participation of

Aizawl Aizawl (, American English, US: , British English, UK: ; Mizo language, Mizo: ), formerly known as Aijal, is the capital city and the most populous city of Mizoram, India. It is also the third largest city in northeast India. It is situated ato ...

and

in the

AFC Cup The AFC Champions League Two (abbreviated as the ACL Two or ACL2) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation. It is the second-tier competition of Asian club football, ranked below the AFC C ...

, the schedule for the quarter-finals shall be decided at a later date.

Bracket

Qualification round

After the conclusion of the

and

seasons, the

announced the draw for the qualification round of the Super Cup. ---- ---- ----

Round of 16

The

announced the draw for the round of 16 of the competition on 12 March 2018. ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Quarter-finals

The dates for the quarter-final matches were scheduled to be announced at a later date to accommodate

commitments of

and

. After

and

advanced to the quarter-finals, the following fixtures were confirmed for the quarter-finals. During the game between

Jamshedpur FC Jamshedpur Football Club (, ) is an Indian professional association football, football club based in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, that competes in the Indian Super League (ISL), the top flight of Indian football league system, Indian football. Founde ...

and

FC Goa Futebol Clube de Goa is an India, Indian professional association football, football club based in Fatorda, Goa, that competes in the Indian Super League (ISL), the top tier of Football in India, Indian football. The club was established on 2 ...

, six players (three each from both the teams) were

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

at the half-time for violent conduct. In the games against NEROCA F.C.,

Sunil Chhetri Sunil Chhetri (, born 3 August 1984) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Indian Super League club Bengaluru and captains the India national team. He is the all-time top scorer in Indian Super League history. He is ...

scored the first hat-trick of the tournament. ---- ---- ----

Semi-finals

The semi-finals were played on 16 April and 17 April 2018 at the

. ----

Final

The final was played on 20 April 2018 at the

and Bengaluru won the inaugural Super Cup by defeating East Bengal in the final.

Goalscorers

;6 goals *

(

) ;5 goals * Miku (

) ;4 goals * Aser Pierrick Dipanda (

Mohun Bagan Mohun Bagan Super Giant, commonly referred to as Mohun Bagan, is an Indian professional football club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. Founded in 1889, it is one of the oldest football clubs in Asia. The club competes in the Indian Super League, ...

) ;3 goals * Hugo Boumous (

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

) ;2 goals * Andrei Ionescu (

) *

Abdoulaye Koffi Abdoulaye Koffi (born 30 December 1991) is an Ivory Coast, Ivorian Association football, footballer who plays for Al-Hudood SC in the Iraqi Premier League. Personal life Abdoulaye's elder brother, Mohamed Koffi is a former Burkina Faso, Burkinab� ...

( Shillong Lajong) * Coro (

) * Brandon Fernandes (

) ;1 goal *

Robbie Keane Robert David Keane (born 8 July 1980) is an Irish professional football coach and former player who played as a striker and is currently the head coach of Ferencváros. Keane served as captain of the Republic of Ireland from March 2006 until h ...

( ATK) *

Udanta Singh Udanta Singh Kumam (born 14 June 1996) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Indian Super League club Goa. Club career Early career Born in Moirang, Manipur, Singh started his youth career at the Tata Football Acade ...

(

) *

Rahul Bheke Rahul Shankar Bheke (; born 6 December 1990) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a defender for and captains the Indian Super League club Bengaluru FC and the India national team. Club career Early career and Air India Born in M ...

(

) * Maílson Alves ( Chennaiyin) * Dhanachandra Singh ( Chennaiyin) * Willis Plaza (

Churchill Brothers Churchill Brothers Futebol Clube de Goa (simply known as Churchill Brothers) is an Indian professional football club based in Margao, Goa, that competes in the Indian Super League, alongside the Goa Professional League (reserves). Founded in 1 ...

) * Katsumi Yusa (

) * Mahmoud Amnah (

) * Dudu Omagbemi (

) * Laldanmawia Ralte (

) * Ansumana Kromah (

) * Manvir Singh (

) *

Henry Kisekka Henry Kisekka (born 31 August 1989) is an Ugandan professional footballer who plays as a forward. Club career Regarded as an important asset to Dong Nai's attacking line in 2012, he recorded 11 goals, helping his team achieve promotion. Not m ...

( Gokulam Kerala) * Ashim Biswas (

Jamshedpur Jamshedpur (; ), also known as Tatanagar, is a major industrial city in eastern India. It is the List of cities in Jharkhand by population, largest city in the state of Jharkhand. With a population of 629,658 in the city limits and 1.3 million ...

) * Pulga (

Kerala Blasters Kerala Blasters Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Blasters, is an Indian professional football club based in Kochi, Kerala, that competes in the Indian Super League (ISL), the top tier of football in India. The club was esta ...

) *

Prasanth Karuthadathkuni Prasanth Karuthadathkuni Mohan (born 24 June 1997) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a winger for I-League club Inter Kashi. Club career Youth and early career Born in Kerala, Prasanth originally began his athletic career as ...

(

) * Sheikh Faiaz (

) * Nikhil Kadam (

) *

Akram Moghrabi Akram Omar Moghrabi (; born 19 October 1985) is a Lebanese professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Tripoli. Club career Moghrabi signed for Nejmeh's youth sector on 11 September 2002. On 23 July 2012 I-League club Churchill Br ...

(

) * Achille Emaná ( Mumbai City) * Jean-Michel Joachim ( NEROCA) * Aryn Williams ( NEROCA) * Felix Chidi Odili ( NEROCA) *

Pritam Singh Pritam Singh (born 2 August 1976) is a Singaporean politician, author, and lawyer who has been the Secretary-General of the Workers' Party (WP) since 2018, and Leader of the Opposition since 2020. Singh has been the Member of Parliament (MP) r ...

( NEROCA) * Jonatan Lucca (

Pune City Pune ( ; , ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona ( the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan plateau in Western India. It is the administrative headquarters of the Pune district, and of Pune ...

) * Marcelinho (

) * Rakesh Pradhan ( Shillong Lajong) * Samuel Lalmuanpuia ( Shillong Lajong)