MUMBAI: The fifth edition of the Indian Super League will kick off on September 29 and run till mid-March 2019, SportzPower can reveal.
And no, India’s top tier league is NOT becoming a 5+ month duration tournament, but the longer run time is due to the ISL incorporating three breaks into its schedule, all of which are linked to India having qualified for the AFC Asian Cup, which will be held in the UAE from 5 January to 1 February 2019.
This is only the fourth time in its history that India has qualified for the continental football championship, most recently in the 2011 edition. It also needs noting that for the first time, the Asian Cup will be contested by 24 teams, having been expanded from the 16-team format that was used from 2004 to 2015.
Coming back to the ISL, according to the information provided to SportzPower, the three breaks that have been incorporated are:
1. 8-16 October
2. 12-20 November
3. 16 December 2018 – 26 January 2019
As regards the two breaks scheduled for October and November, as Kushal Das, general secretary, All India Football Federation (AIFF), revealed to The Hindu: “The Indian team will travel to China to play a friendly against them in October and the other friendly (most likely against Saudi Arabia or Syria) will be played in November.”
