If things work out as per plans, the EMS Corporation Stadium in the city will host the Federation Cup football championship, one of the premier national tournaments to be hosted by the state in January next year. The City Corporation authorities and the District Football Association have expressed 0confidence to conduct the matches of the tournament in the stadium, where the construction of a grand stand pavilion is progressing for the 35th edition of the National Games. DFA president A Pradeep Kumar MLA told City Express that they had held talks with the Kerala Football Association in that regard. “Right now, the construction work of the grand stand pavilion is progressing at a fast pace and by December first week the turf of the stadium will be ready for conducting football matches,” he said. Earlier, Mayor A K Premajam, Pradeep Kumar MLA, KFA president KMI Mather, former Sports Council president T P Dasan and District Sports Council president K J Mathai had visited the ground and reviewed the ongoing works. The stadium will be hosting the football events of the National Games. The new building comprises a grand stand pavilion and a two-storey shopping complex. The grand stand, which will adhere to international standards, will be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 19.01 crore. According to the National Games officials, 85 per cent of the piling works have been completed in the stadium. Of the 232 piles, 202 have been completed and the works of pile caps are progressing. The construction of columns and beams for the gallery structure, finishing of civil works, electrical works and natural turfing with grass are the rest of the works to be completed. “If the Corporation authorities give an assurance about conducting the Federation Cup matches there, by November first week, we can move forward with the plans. Besides this we plan to conduct some national championships in Kozhikode in January next year,” says KFA president K M I Mather. The Federation Cup is proposed to be held from January 12 to January 22. 2014. After the completion of works, the stadium will have state-of-the-art facilities, including a VVIP lounge with a seating capacity of 200, dressing room for players and a media centre. There will also be a parking complex at the stadium. Around 3,000 spectators can watch the match from the grand stand, which has been designed by architect R K Ramesh. The stadium, which was constructed in 1977, was last renovated in 2005. It had hosted the home side matches of SBT Thiruvananthapuram in the National Football League, in 2005, and also the home games of VIVA Kerala FC in their I-League campaign in 2009- 10.