Guwahati, Sept. 16: It will once again be a northeastern affair in the Bharat Ratna Lokapriya Bordoloi Trophy football tournament at Nehru Stadium here from Friday.

Disclosing this to The Telegraph, Guwahati Sports Association (GSA) general secretary Ibocha Singh said apart from last year’s finalists — Shillong outfits Royal Wahingdoh FC and Langsning SC — there will be Rangdajied FC from Meghalaya, Nagaland Police, Assam Rifles and six teams from Guwahati.

There will be no overseas or premier national teams for the second consecutive time.

Participation of foreign teams was a trademark of the GSA’s flagship event in the past.

“We should have applied for permission to engage overseas teams at least three months ago, which we could not do this time because of various constraints,” Singh, who had assumed office of the general secretary in May, said.

He added that financial constraints were another reason for the absence of any premier outfit.

He hinted that apart from the regular sponsors like Oil India Ltd, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd and others, there might be a new sponsor in Rose Valley Group for the tournament.

Though the GSA’s president and health and education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had promised to create a corpus fund with government patronage for the historic tournament last year, it is yet to materialise as the GSA’s then officebearers could not follow it up properly.

About the venue, Singh said the entire tournament would this time be held at Nehru Stadium, unlike last year when some of the matches were hosted at Judges Field.