The 2021-22 edition of the domestic football tournament Hero I-League will kick off in December and will be hosted in Kolkata, the All India Football Federation said in a press release on Saturday. The decision was taken after a AIFF League committee’s virtual meeting.
Mr. Subrata Dutta, Senior Vice President, All India Football Federation, and Chairman, League Committee chaired the AIFF League Committee Meeting, while AIFF General Secretary Mr. Kushal Das and League CEO Mr. Sunando Dhar, Mr. Souter Vaz, Mr. Lalnghinglova Hmar, Mr. Anil Kumar, Mr. Chirag Tanna and Mr. Rochak Langer, were among the attendees in the meeting.
“The format of the League will be the same as the last edition with all teams playing each other once, and then divided into two groups. While the top half vying for the Championship will comprise 7 teams, the bottom half which will be battling it out for the relegation will have 6 teams,” Mr. Dhar informed. “The number of matches will also be more this edition – a rise from 80 to 114,” League CEO Sunando Dhar said in the press release.
“We are looking at a tentative date of mid-December onwards for kicking-off the Hero I-League. We are in talks with the Indian Football Association (Bengal), and also the Government of West Bengal to successfully organise the League in Kolkata and its suburbs like the last edition,” he added.
The Committee also discussed hosting the Futsal Club Championship in October 2021 in Shillong adhering to all health parameters.
“We are also making it mandatory for all players, officials, and all operational and administrative staff across all Leagues and championships to get themselves fully vaccinated prior to the kick-off. However, we do understand that there will be players less than 18 years of age who may be participating, along with players/officials who are recovering from Covid and may not have got a chance to vaccinate themselves. In that case, all of them would be subjected to more RTPCR tests than the others,” Dhar further said.
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