Shillong, May 22: Meghalaya will take on Kerala in the quarterfinals of the Swami Vivekananda U-20 Men’s National Football Championship 2026 at Narainpur, Chhattisgarh, on Saturday, with both sides entering the knockout stage in formidable form. Kick-off is scheduled for 7am.

Meghalaya topped Group A with a perfect 12 points after beginning their campaign with a 3-1 victory over Bihar on May 9. They followed it up with a dominant 5-0 win against Jharkhand, an emphatic 8-1 triumph over Andhra Pradesh on May 13, and a 3-0 victory against Rajasthan on May 17.

Coached by Jeffrey Warlarpih, the Meghalaya side now faces its sternest challenge of the tournament against a strong Kerala outfit that finished first in Group C.

Kerala opened their campaign with a 5-1 win over Chandigarh on May 13 before defeating Uttarakhand 3-0 on May 15. They then registered a massive 12-0 victory against Andaman & Nicobar Islands on May 19 and sealed their place in the quarterfinals with a 6-1 win over Jammu & Kashmir on May 21.

The two teams had also met in the previous edition of the tournament, when they were drawn in the same group. On that occasion, Meghalaya emerged 2-1 winners over Kerala.

However, with this being an age-category competition, only a handful of players from the 2025 Meghalaya squad have been retained for this year’s campaign, setting up what promises to be an evenly contested quarterfinal encounter.