The All India Football Federation President Kalyan Chaubey, after consultations with the Competition Committee and the secretary Shaji Prabhakaran, has decided to introduce a National Football Championship for Under-20 boys. The tournament, to be played annually, will be known as the U20 National Football Championship. 

For the current season, players born on and after January 1, 2005, and not later than December 31, 2007, will be eligible to play. The inaugural championship will be organized in January – February 2024. 

While introducing the National Championship for U-20 boys, Chaubey said, "We are starting this tournament after extensive discussions with our Technical Department, and Competition Committee. Previously, an U21 National Championship used to be organized by the AIFF but was discontinued a few years ago. Our main aim to start this championship is to provide more opportunities to the footballers in the U-20 age group, who may not make the team for the Senior National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy for their respective states."

Chaubey also pointed out that since there are two other age groups of National Football Championships in place for sub juniors and juniors, this tournament will prove to be a perfect gateway for the upcoming footballers to enter the world of professional football.

The Chairman of the Competition Committee, Mr Anilkumar said, "It had always been our prime aim to involve a greater number of footballers at the national level and provide them the chance to showcase their talent at a younger age."

At the same time, the AIFF is going to introduce third division I-league this year. According to secretary, the state champions are expected to participate in the league which might start around in November-December.