Indian Women’s League set to resume in April with new inclusions

By
Triyasha Chatterjee
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0

Kolkata- India’s top division tournament for women, the Indian Women’s League is set to resume from April after a long gap of two years. Gokulam Kerala are currently the reigning champions of the tournament winning it back in 2020.

The fifth edition of this league will be held in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha and will be held in a new format featuring a new junior side as well. The new format will see more games played throughout the league.

The aforementioned information about the league’s resumption and format was confirmed by AIFF Leagues CEO, Sunando Dhar.

“The IWL is supposed to be held till the end of May in Bhubaneshwar in a bio-bubble. The tournament dates will be from the middle of April to end of May. The teams come in before that because of the quarantine period before they can go out to practise,” addressed Dhar.

“We are changing the format. Earlier 12 teams were divided into two groups so the minimum number of matches that each team was played by five. This year what we are doing is all 12 teams play against each other so every team gets more matches (11),” added Dhar.

There will be a total of 12 teams like the 2019-20 edition, with the winners of the state competitions qualifying for the IWL. The inclusion of a developmental Under-20 Indian Arrows side for women, like the men’s side in the I-league, is set to be a boost for the younger players in India. This will be a team different from the squad preparing for the upcoming FIFA Under-17 World Cup to be hosted by India. The table-toppers at the end of the round-robin format will win the league and there will be no knockouts.

 

The tournament will be starting from 1st of April onwards with Guwahati Football Club taking on ARA FC in the Ambedkar Stadium. However, Gokulam Kerala has started to prepare defending their title.

 

 

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