Federation Cup revived as a season-ending knockout tournament; kicks off on 30th April
THE FEDERATION CUP is being revived as an end-of-the-season event this year, thanks to the Asian Football Confederation's rule mandating that any club must play at least 18 domestic matches to be eligible for the AFC Champions League.
The tournament, the biggest club competition in Indian football, was scrapped to make more room for ISL in the calendar. But by necessity it's coming back, as with a new format, starting 30th April.
It will be playede as a knockout tournament, with each tie played in a home-away basis. The top 8 clubs in I-League this season will participate in the competition. The fixtures will also depend on where the clubs finished in the league. The club finishing first will face the club finishing 8th, the one finishing 2nd will face the 7th, and so on.
The tournament will be home-away till the semi-final stage while the final match will be a one-off event held in a neutral venue. It will be the last competitive game of the 2015-16 domestic season.
While most of the football clubs in India will be happy just for the fact that there is one more tournament for them to play in, the tournament will make things a bit more hectic for defending Federation Cup winners Bengaluru FC and I-League champions Mohun Bagan, who will have to accomodate these matches inside their already busy schedule in the AFC Cup group stage.
The Ten Sports Network are supposed to broadcast the tournament, and they only plan to showcase the four semi-finals and the final match of the tournaent.
