Indian football season to start with Futsal League in November

The Indian football season was halted abruptly owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, with four rounds of I-League matches left to play. Eventually, the title was awarded to Mohun Bagan while the season was called-off simultaneously with a health crisis still looming over. That has also affected the 2020-21 season with it likely to only kick-off in November later this year. As per the AIFF, the new season will start off with a proposed futsal league, before the ISL and I-League gets underway.

“Yes, we will be conducting an Indian Futsal League and the response of ISL and I-League clubs to the proposal has been quite positive. Some State associations want to conduct their own championships and the winners could take part in the futsal league, which will be the season-opener,” said AIFF secretary Kushal Das, as reported by Sportstar.

India’s World Cup qualifiers have also been pushed back from March to October 2020, with them resuming the campaign on October 8 against Asian champions Qatar. Following that, Sunil Chhetri and Co. will travel to Bangladesh and complete the set of matches with a home match against Afghanistan in November. Meanwhile, the Women’s U17 World Cup is slated to be played in India during February-March next year.

“The Indian team will have to start training in September. We have also got the new dates for the Women's Under-17 World Cup, which India will host from February 17 next year. We are waiting to hear from the government,” added the official.