I-League 2020-21 to start on January 9, announces AIFF

The 14th version of Hero I-League will kick off on January 9 subsequent 12 months in Kolkata, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) stated on Saturday. The 11 collaborating groups might be required to enter a bio-secure bubble 14 days previous to their first match in line with the schedule, which might be introduced shortly. The matches might be telecast reside on 1Sports.

Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the earlier version of the second-tier league was stopped abruptly earlier than soccer motion resumed in India via the I-League Qualifier in October this 12 months. The West Bengal authorities and Indian Football Association (IFA) joined arms with the AIFF to organise the qualifiers efficiently.

Sunando Dhar, CEO, Leagues, lauded the stakeholders for his or her “unconditional support” in staging the tournaments with none fuss.

“We can’t thank government of West Bengal and IFA enough for their unconditional support to hosting the Hero I-League Qualifier this year. Without their support, we couldn’t even think of hosting the tournament smoothly,” stated Dhar.

“Hero I-League Qualifier was a stage rehearsal for the next edition of Hero I-League as it’ll be a longer and more challenging tournament from every single aspect. We’ll work with them hand in hand to make it a grand success and we’re confident to pull it off successfully,” he added.

All the 11 groups will face one another as soon as within the first leg of the league earlier than they’re divided into two completely different teams.

The high six groups, in line with the factors desk, will face one another as soon as once more to determine the winner whereas the opposite 5 groups will play towards one another in a one-leg league format.

The staff with most factors (cumulative factors collected from all fifteen matches) would be the winner of the I-League 2020-21.

The event might be organised by adhering to the COVID-19 pointers launched by the union well being ministry and no spectator might be allowed inside a stadium throughout a match.