Federation Cup final moved out of Kashmir due to resurgence of violence in the Valley
A RESURGENCE OF VIOLENCE in the valley of Kashmir has forced the All India Football Federation to move the Federation Cup final out of Srinagar.
The Fed Cup final, a showpiece event meant to be the last game and the climax of the domestic season, was scheduled to be held in Srinagar on 21st May. It will now have to be moved to some other venue in the country that does not play host to an I-League club.
The original plan was to host the entire Federation Cup tournament in Jammu and Kashmir. But later, the country's biggest cup tournament was scrapped in order to make more room for the private tournament Indian Super League in the Indian domestic football calendar.
The Federation Cup was later revived when the I-League became too short thanks to 3 clubs pulling out in tandem last summer. This time it was re-designed as a 8 club knockout tournament to be played in a double leg home-away format till the semi-finals.
Kashmir, not having a club of its own in the top division, was the obvious choice to be reinstated to get some of the tournament at least: Srinagar was selected as the host for the grand finale, to be held on 21st May.
The Valley has been turning heads in the Indian football circuit already this season, with Lonestar Kashmir FC, a club from Srinagar playing in the 2nd Division League, reporting an average home crowd of nearly 18,000.
But things turned sour earlier this month when violence once again broke out over the region and curfews were imposed again in various parts of the Valley, including Srinagar. This affected all sporting activities taking place in the region including football; a 2nd Division game between Kashmir FC and Mohammedan Sporting was recently postponed due to the situation.
With no immediate de-escalation in sight, AIFF has decided to move the Federation Cup final out of Srinagar. A number of venues that do not host an I-League club are in consideration to replace Srinagar; including Delhi, Chennai and Kerala. Tha latter especially stands a good chance to emerge as the winner in the race to host this high-profile event considering the craze fans showed around Federation Cup in Malappuram a few seasons ago. They also have a newly-refurbished stadium in Kozhikode that saw capacity crowd in major football matches during the 2015 National Games.
The final choice in the matter will be subject to security permissions and complicity of the local association, and hopefully will be announced before the competition kicks off.
