MUMBAI: Football Sports Development Ltd (FSDL), organiser of the Hero Indian Super League, has honed in on November to March as the timeline for the 2020-21 season of the ISL, while also leaning towards Kerala and / or Goa as likely venues in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This was discussed during a meeting between FSDL and club representatives on Monday, PTI reports.
“The league will be held behind closed doors for sure and the dates are from November to March. Kerala, Goa, West Bengal and North East states were discussed as the likely states but Goa and Kerala can be said as the frontrunners at this point of time,” an FSDL source told the newswire.
“The plan is to host it in one or two states across multiple venues,” the source further said.
Both Goa and Kerala are better placed than many other states at the moment as far as the COVID-19 situation is concerned, and that makes it “favourable” for the organisers to host the league there.
“Everything has been and will be further discussed internally and ISL will work with the state governments and the central governments. Before going ahead with finalising the states and venues, they will look into the medical aspects, logistical aspects so as to create a conducive and healthy environment for everyone involved,” PTI quotes said source as having said.
In October, a virtual ISL workshop will be conducted and the clubs will be “presented with all the details, rules and regulations” regarding the event.
Taking a cue from the upcoming England-West Indies Test series, it was decided during the meeting that the teams will stay put in a bio-secure environment, PTI further reports.
Owing to the coronavirus outbreak, the 2019-20 ISL final between ATK and Chennaiyin FC was held behind closed doors at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Goa on March 14.
