I-League fixtures to be re-worked upon

Goa: The All India Football Federation (AIFF) had released a tentative schedule for the 2013-14 season’s I-League last week. However as many as five clubs have voiced their annoyance over the same and have called for the fixtures to be re-arranged.

From November 28, 2013 to January 12, 2014, there are eleven rounds of matches in the I-League. “The schedule is very hard for the teams. Think about the players as they would have no recovery time with the cramped schedule. Also there is one round of Federation Cup in December which makes it 12 matches in six weeks. This isn’t in the best interest of the clubs,” a club official told GOAL on the condition of anonymity. Meanwhile the AIFF aren’t left with much choice with the I-League already expected to stretch into June when the AFC Cup fixtures are announced. It must be noted that the I-League will be on standby from mid-January until the first week of April next year to accommodate the new league mooted by AIFF’s marketing and commercial partners, IMG-Reliance. “Already we are going to the end of May in the current fixture list. Once the AFC Cup dates come, there will be a further delay which means the fixtures could go into June,” informed Sunando Dhar, the CEO of the I-League. The AIFF are expected to call for a meeting with the club officials in a week’s time to discuss the schedule of the I-League. Goal.com