Image Courtesy: InsideSport
The Indian Super League (ISL) organisers have instructed participating clubs to prepare for the next edition of the league in a bio-secure bubble, most likely in Goa.
On Wednesday, the FSDL, the league’s governing body, had an online meeting with all of the league’s CEOs to discuss plans for the upcoming season.
The three states that have been shortlisted to host the ISL are Goa, Bengal, and Kerala. However, given that Goa successfully held the previous edition inside a bio-secure bubble, the organisers are unlikely to explore beyond this state.
According to a source who has been tracking the development told TOI, on Wednesday, that the three teams who will play their home games at the Nehru Stadium in Fatorda are Mumbai City FC, ATK Mohun Bagan, and North East United FC, while FC Goa, Hyderabad FC, Jamshedpur FC, and Bengaluru FC will play at the GMC Athletic Stadium in Bambolim. The remaining four teams will compete at Vasco’s Tilak Maidan.
If the league is moved out of Goa, it will possibly be held abroad.
The ISL will begin mid-November and end in March, with a break in late January for international football as India is scheduled to play the first game of the Asian Cup 2023 qualifiers.
The meeting was attended by all 11 clubs, including SC East Bengal. SC East Bengal was not planned to attend the conference, but the organisers summoned them and instructed them to get their house in order, according to sources.
The club and its investors, Shree Cement, have been at odds over the signing of a definitive deal that would permanently transfer the club’s sporting rights to the Shree Cement East Bengal Foundation, which owns a 76 percent ownership.
If SC East Bengal failed to sort out their problems soon, the ISL will go ahead with 10 teams.