Gokulam Kerala Face Churchill Brothers In The Opening Match

Holder Gokulam Kerala FC will take on former champion and last year’s runner-up Churchill Brothers in the opening round of the new edition of the Hero I-League, which gets underway at three venues in and around the City from Sunday.

The venues are Mohun Bagan in Kolkata, Kalyani and Naihati.

In the other two matches, TRAU FC of Imphal will take on All India Football Federation’s development side Indian Arrows while debutant Rajasthan United Club will meet Round glass Punjab FC.

This time, the tournament has a field of 13 contenders, an increase of two over the 11 that participated in the previous edition.

After former champion Chennai City FC expressed its inability to field a side, Mumbai-based Kenkre FC made its way through by virtue of finishing second in the I-League Qualifiers.

The champion of the Qualifiers Rajasthan United and Sreenidi Deccan FC which gained a direct entry, are the other newcomers.

This apart, there are the other regulars like Aizawl FC, Mohammedan Sporting (Kolkata), NEROCA FC (Imphal), Real Kashmir FC and Sudeva Delhi FC.

The competition format will also be repeated with all the teams playing each other once in a round-robin format in Phase One.

In the final phase, the top seven of in the table (Group A) will play for the title while the bottom six (Group B) will be fighting relegation.